South Korea's Imports of Iranian Crude More than Double in Q2

South Korea's imports of Iranian crude oil more than doubled in the second quarter of the year from a year earlier following the lifting of international sanctions against the Middle East country, government data showed Wednesday.

    A total of 25.35 million barrels of crude oil was imported from Iran during the April-June period, soaring 123.3% from 11.35 million barrels tallied over the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

    Iran had been one of the biggest crude oil exporters to South Korea, which imports nearly all of its oil needs, until the international community imposed economic sanctions on it over its nuclear weapons program in 2012, state news agency (Yonhap) reported.

    South Korea imported US$9.36 billion worth of crude from Iran in 2011, but the number plunged to $2.27 billion in 2015, amounting to 42.4 million barrels.

    With the sharp increase in Iranian crude, South Korea's overall oil imports increased 4.5% on-year to 266.38 million barrels during the three-month period.

    Imports of oil-related products, such as liquefied petroleum gas, jumped 15% on-year to 77 million barrels in the second quarter on the back of low oil prices, while South Korea's production of refined oil grew 2.9% on-year to 282.9 million barrels.

    South Korea's exports of petroleum products expanded 9.5% to 124 million barrels over the cited period, but the value of exports tumbled 23.6% on-year due to a low oil price trend.