Seoul South Korea imported 56.15 million barrels of crude oil from Iran last year, 35.6 per cent lower than a year earlier, after sanctions squeezed imports, data from state-run Korea National Oil Corp showed on Tuesday.
The world’s fifth-largest crude oil buyer imported a total 79.73 million barrels of crude oil in December, down 0.8 per cent on the year. Of this total, it imported 5.72 million barrels from Iran, up 24.8 per cent from a year ago, the data showed.
Compared with November, the Iranian crude oil import last month was down 2.5 per cent, the data added.
South Korean refiners resumed importing Iranian crude oil late in September for October arrivals, importing about 200,000 barrels per day, or full contracted volumes, after finding a way around a European Union ban on insurance cover.
