Oil imports from Asia in May in Iran reach their highest level in eight months

      * Asia Mai total imports of 1.8 mln bpd-govt, ship data
* Imports from India soar by 45% a year / year
* South Korea's purchases down 27 pct year / year

By Aaron Sheldrick
TOKYO, June 29 (Reuters) - Imports of Iranian crude oil
major buyers in Asia reached the highest in eight months in May
as purchases have increased ahead of potential new penalties on the
Middle East Nation, government and ship tracking data showed.
China, India, Japan and South Korea imported last month 1.8
million barrels per day (bpd) from Iran, the data showed. This
was nearly 15 percent higher than the year before and the most
since September.
Iran's crude purchases by the four countries may fall
at the end of the year after President Donald Trump last month
pulled the United States from a historic agreement on the reduction of Tehran
disputed nuclear program.
The United States Reimposes Sanctions Against Iran That Have Been Raised
after the agreement was agreed in July 2015 and demanding of others
countries cut their trade ties with the Middle East country.

These requests are beginning to be heard. The oil ministry of India
asked refiners to prepare for a "drastic reduction or zero"
Iranian oil imports from November, two industry sources said
Reuters.
Chinese imports of Iranian crude in May rose 5.3 percent
just over 718.00 bpd from the previous year and are almost 10
higher percentage during the first five months of the year.
India's imports from Iran jumped by nearly 45% compared with May
last year at around 700,000 b / d and are up 6.4 percent in the
year through last month.
South Korean purchases fell 27% to nearly 194,000
bpd and has fallen by more than a third in the year so far.
Imports to Japan rose 32 percent in May to about 210,000
bpd from a year ago, but are down 5 percent for the year,
data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of the country
showed on Friday.
The tables below describe gross imports of Iran into bpd by Asia
the biggest buyers for last month and year to date:


Country May-18 May-17 years / year PCT
China 718,004,681,762 5.3
India 705 200 487 600 44.6
Japan 211,097,160,551 31.5
South Korea 193,774,265,516 -27,0
Total 1,828,075 1,595,429 14.6

Country Jan-May 2018 Jan-May 2017 year / year pct
China 656,276 600,597 9.3
India 583,500 548,200 6.4
Japan 164,986 172,974 -4.6
South Korea 294 801 444 185 -33.6
Total 1,699,563 1,765,956 -3.8


(Report by Aaron Sheldrick, additional report by Osamu
Tsukimori; edited by Richard Pullin)