South Korea’s June oil imports from Iran over 167,000 bpd
South Korea, one of Asia’s major Iranian oil customers, imported 686,849 tons of Iranian crude in June, or 167,820 barrels per day (bpd), customs office data showed on Sunday.
In the first half of this year, South Korea’s intake of Iranian crude slid 33.9 percent compared with the figure for the same period last year to 6.13 million tons, or 248,367 bpd, according to the data, Reuters reported.
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. 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 13.14 million tons, or 3.21 mbd, up 13.2 percent from 11.61 million tons in the same month last year.
South Korea’s crude imports in the first six months of this year were 74.11 million tons, or 3 mbd, up 2.7 percent from 72.17 million tons 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.