South Korea’s Iranian crude imports fell between April and May this year. The Asian country’s imports from the Islamic republic dropped below last year’s daily average, according to customs data.
The country imported 284,327 tonnes of Iranian crude last month, or 67,230 barrels per day (bpd), compared to 552,884 tonnes a month ago and 505,004 tonnes a year ago.
One of South Korea’s two refiners imports Iranian crude oil every other month, making imports of oil from Iran often swing widely monthly.
South Koreas took 2.5 million tonnes, or 121,868 bpd, from Iran in the first five months of this year, down 15 percent from 2.9 million tonnes imported during the same period in 2013 and also 9% less than last year’s average of 134,000 bpd.
Iran’s major customers are: China, India Japan and South Korea. All together, they are expected to import around 1.25 million to 1.3 million bpd by the end of June this year, according to state sources.
China however is set to import more Iranian oil than it did before sanctions were put in place in early 2012.
