South Korea does not import Iranian oil in June; imports of the first half fall 37%

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea has not imported Iranian crude oil for a second month in June following the end of US sanctions. Iranian imports fell 36.9 percent in the first half of last year, according to customs statistics released on Monday.

South Korea, the world's fifth-largest crude oil importer and one of Iran's major oil consumers, stopped importing Iranian crude from May, after US sanctions derogations against Iran ended at the beginning of this month.

South Korean oil buyers mainly imported from Iran condensate, an ultra-light oil.

Iran's oil shipments in the first six months of the year reached nearly 3.9 million tons, or 156,155 barrels per day, a 36.9 percent drop from 6.13 million tons the same period the previous year, according to customs data.

In total, crude oil imports from South Korea decreased by 12.6% in June to 11.49 million tonnes, or about 2.8 million bpd.

Oil shipments from Saudi Arabia, South Korea's largest petroleum supplier, amounted to 3.67 million tons in June, or 893,806 b / d, a decrease of 16.2 percent from the previous year. at 4.38 million tonnes last year.

Reflecting South Korea's efforts to replace Iran's oil and diversify its sources of crude oil, imports from the United States almost tripled to 1.09 million tonnes in June, or 264,745 b / d. It also imported 265,403 tons of crude oil from Kazakhstan in June, up 96.2 percent from 135,254 tons in the previous year, as the data show.

In the first half of the year, crude oil imports from South Korea plunged 2 percent to 72.7 million tons, or 2.93 million bpd.

With South Korea increasing its oil consumption in the United States, the United States ranked 4th among South Korea's suppliers of crude oil in the first half of the year, supplying 7.8 million tonnes, 313,387 billion barrels a day. This accounted for more than four times the contribution of 1.81 million tonnes a year earlier.

South Korea is expected to continue to buy US oil despite OPEC's ongoing supply cuts and increased crude oil production in the United States.

Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC), a state-owned company, will release final data on the country's crude oil imports later this month.