South Korea’s Crude Imports From Iran Increase By 43 Percent In September From The Same Period Last Year; Shipments Down By 4.5 Percent In The First Nine Months Of 2015

Asian imports of Iranian crude recorded an increase of about 10 percent in August as compared to the same period last year, CNBC noted on Sep. 30. Reports have revealed that more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) were exported among Iran's four biggest buyers, including three Asian countries: China, South Korea and Japan.

In September, government officials from South Korea and Iran vowed to strengthen its ties in the upcoming years. Korea Herald forecasted on Sep.1 that South Korea plans to boost the imports of Iranian crude after the nuclear-related sanctions against Iran will be removed.

"The amount of Iranian oil imports has halved since the sanctions, but the quality of Iranian crude oil is quite good and its condensate is very useful," said Deputy Trade Minister Woo Tae Hee.

"On condition that the sanctions are lifted, we may have to discuss increasing the oil imports once again," he revealed.

Meanwhile, the country's crude imports from Iran recorded an increase of 43 percent for the month of September this year as compared last year. Reuters reported on Wednesday that South Korea "brought 800,111 tonnes of Iranian crude in September," compared to last year's 558,357 tonnes.

Despite the increase of crude imports from Iran, shipments decreased by 4.5 percent in the first nine months of the year "reflecting sanctions restricting buying over Tehran's nuclear programme."

According to reports, the US-led sanctions will be nullified once Tehran convinces the International Atomic Energy Agency that it has met the obligations.

Further reports stated that Korean firms used to run in different engineering and equipment manufacturing divisions in Iran's petrochemical industry before the sanctions were implemented on the country, as per National Petrochemical Company (NPC) deputy head Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi.

He also says that the Iranian manufacturers have developed after the sanctions were imposed, as reported by Fars News Agency on Sep. 3.

"The capabilities of Iranian manufacturers and vendors have improved a lot during the past decade and we have proposed Korean companies to manufacture parts in cooperation with Iranian industrialists," Peyvandi says.