South Korea's imports of Iranian crude oil fell 1.7 per cent in December
S Korea's 2014 Iran crude imports fall
SEOUL, January 15, 2015
South Korea's imports of Iranian crude oil fell 1.7 per cent in December from a year earlier, and shipments for 2014 were below the 2013 average, meeting international sanction requirements.
Preliminary customs data from the world's fifth-largest crude oil importer showed that Seoul imported 548,598 tonnes of crude oil from Tehran last month, or 129,717 barrels per day (bpd), compared with 557,836 tonnes a year ago.
Iranian crude shipments in 2014 were 6.2 million tonnes, or 124,497 bpd, down 7.1 per cent from the 2013 average of 134,000 bpd, according to the data and Reuters calculations.
In 2013, the US, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China, struck a preliminary deal with Iran to halt nuclear work and big Asian buyers, including South Korea, should hold their crude imports from Tehran at end-2013 levels.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that he and his Iranian counterpart would seek at their meeting to lay the ground for negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme to make greater progress.
Of South Korea's four refiners, only SK Energy Co Ltd and Hyundai Oilbank Co Ltd import Iranian oil and their imports fluctuate each month.
Overall, South Korea imported 10.85 million tonnes of crude last month, or 2.57 million bpd.
The total was 8.4 per cent higher than the 10 million tonnes imported in December of 2013, the customs data showed. Final data for last month's crude oil imports will be released by state-run Korea National Oil Corp later this month.--Reuters
