According to customs data released in Seoul on Saturday, the world’s fifth-largest crude importer and one of Tehran’s biggest customers shipped in 5.68 million tonnes of Iranian crude in the first three months of 2017, or 463,234 bpd, up 92.4 percent from the 2.96 million tonnes imported during the same period a year ago.
Iran moved into place as the second biggest oil exporter to South Korea in the first quarter of 2017, from the fifth place a year before.
Imports from Iran’s closest rival Saudi Arabia in March were down 2.6% from 3.61 million a month ago, South Korea’s customs data showed.
For the first quarter of 2017, South Korea imported 36.94 million tonnes of crude, or 3.01 million bpd, up 4.6 percent from 35.32 million tonnes a year earlier, Reuters reported.
Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum said early this month that the country’s total exports of crude oil and condensate had surpassed 3 million barrels per day, a level not seen for at least the past six years.
