SEOUL: South Korea’s imports of Iranian crude in the first 10 months of 2014 were below the 2013 average, meeting international sanction requirements, and it imported nearly 120,000 tonnes from the United States as it brought the first Alaskan crude in a decade.
Preliminary customs data from the world’s fifth-largest crude importer showed yesterday that Seoul bought 283,287 tonnes of crude oil from Tehran last month, or 66,984 barrels per day (b/d), compared with 420,402 tonnes the year before.
Iranian crude shipments between January and October into Asia’s fourth-largest economy hit more than 5 million tonnes, or 122,564 b/d, down 9 percent from a year ago. It was also 9 percent below the 2013 average of 134,000 b/d, according to the data and Reuters calculations.
Iran has suspended higher-grade uranium enrichment and big Asian buyers, including South Korea, will hold their crude imports from Iran at end-2013 levels under a preliminary deal between Iran and Western powers agreed in November 2013.
South Korea’s SK Energy and Hyundai Oilbank import Iranian oil and their imports fluctuate as each buys crude every other month. The customs data showed that South Korea imported 119,439 tonnes, or more than 875,000 barrels, of crude worth $79.394 million from the US last month, giving an average price of $91 a barrel.
Overall, South Korea imported 9.98 million tonnes of crude last month, or 2.36m b/d. The total was down 6 percent from the 10.7m tonnes in October last year, the customs data showed.
Reuters
