Korea

South Korea doubles Iran oil imports in June

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A recent report shows that South Korea more than doubled its crude oil imports from the Islamic Republic of Iran in June month-on-month.

Customs data showed on Tuesday that Seoul’s crude imports from Iran stood at 604, 402 tonnes or 147,676 barrels per day (bpd) in June, up from 284,327 tonnes the month before, Reuters reported.

The amount also indicated a 7-percent rise in Seoul’s oil imports from Iran in comparison to June 2013, which was 565,444 tonnes, the report said.

According to Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC), Iran is the fifth largest crude oil supplier to South Korea after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar.

Earlier in March, South Korea made a first payment of USD 550 million to Iran for oil imports following partial relief in sanctions against the country in line with a nuclear deal inked between the Islamic Republic and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Russia, China, France, Britain and the US – plus Germany in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2013.

Under the Geneva interim deal, the six countries agreed to ease some of the existing sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.

World oil giants, including Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum (BP), Malaysia’s Petronas, Spain’s Repsol, Russia’s second largest oil producer Lukoil, France’s Total and Italy’s Eni, have shown interest in returning to Iran following the partial sanctions relief.

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