South Korea’s imports of Iranian oil fell 40.3% in June from the same month a year ago to their lowest since January 2015, as the country’s buyers’ slashed purchases ahead of the reimposition of US sanctions targeting Iran.
South Korea, one of Asia’s major Iranian oil customers, imported 686,849 tonnes of Iranian crude in June, or 167,820 barrels per day (bpd), compared with 1.15mn tonnes in June 2017, customs office data showed yesterday.
That was down 9.5% from May.
In the first half of this year, South Korea’s intake of Iranian crude slid 33.9% compared with the same period last year to 6.13mn tonnes, or 248,367bpd, according to the data.
The drop comes after US President Donald Trump’s administration said it would pull out of an international nuclear deal with Iran and renew tough economic sanctions on Tehran.
Seoul has since been in talks to get an exemption from the United States in a bid to avert any adverse impact from halting Iranian oil imports.
In August, people familiar with the matter have said, South Korea’s Iranian oil imports could be zero for the first time in six years.
South Korea mainly purchases an ultra-light form of crude oil, known as condensate, from Iran, and its data does not give a breakdown by products.
In 2012, South Korea managed to get a waiver on the previous round of sanctions by importing limited amounts of Iranian oil during that time.
Those sanctions were lifted in 2016.
In total, South Korea’s June crude imports were 13.14mn tonnes, or 3.21mn bpd, up 13.2% from 11.61mn tonnes in the same month last year.
From Saudi Arabia, South Korea’s top crude supplier, crude imports in June rose 26.1% to 4.38mn tonnes, or 1.07mn bpd, from last year.
Shipments from Mexico showed a nearly five-fold increase to 568,377 tonnes. South Korea’s crude imports in the first six months of this year were 74.11mn tonnes, or 3mn bpd, up 2.7% from 72.17mn tonnes during the same period in 2017, according to the data.
The country’s final June crude imports numbers are due to be released by state-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) later this month.
SK Corp oil refinery in Ulsan (file). South Korea’s imports of Iranian oil fell 40.3% in June from the same month a year ago to their lowest since January 2015, as the country’s buyers’ slashed purchases ahead of the reimposition of US sanctions targeting Iran.
