SEOUL: South Korea’s crude imports from Iran rose further in July to be nearly four times the level of a year ago, and 5.9 percent higher than the previous month, after international sanctions were lifted on Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.
Seoul brought in 1.10 million tonnes of Iranian crude oil last month, or 260,910 barrels per day (bpd), 285 percent above the 286,374 tonnes imported a year earlier when sanctions were imposed on Tehran, its customs office data showed on Monday. The world’s fifth-largest crude importer shipped in 7.22 million tonnes of crude from the Middle Eastern country in the Janaury-July period of 2016, or 248,616 bpd, versus 3.23 million tonnes in the same period in 2015, according to the data. That was more than double from a year ago.
Iranian oil sales may stay strong as the OPEC producer cut prices for August crude sales to Asia, the Mediterranean and from the port of Sidi Kerir in Egypt, in a continuing effort to regain market share in these regions post-sanctions.
