Iran overtakes Saudi Arabia in oil exports to South Korea
. Author: mbncom
Figures show that Saudi Arabia has lost a significant share of South Korea's oil market to Iran. Preliminary customs data show that Iran exported around 1.79 million tons of crude oil to Asia's fourth largest oil buyer in January.
The figure, which is equal to around 425,000 barrels per day (bpd), is almost two times higher than that of the same period last year, Reuters said in a report.
This development takes market share away from Iran's key rival, Saudi Arabia, added the report.
South Korea's imports of crude oil from Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia dropped by 17.3 percent to 785,084 bpd in January compared to the figure for December 2016, as the Saudis are complying with a supply-cut deal agreed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
South Korea's total crude oil imports from all oil-exporting nations increased by 14 percent annually to 2.93 million bpd in January, added the report quoting preliminary figures released by South Korea's customs office.
However, the total January imports were 6.3 percent lower than the imports for December 2016, it said.
Platts energy news service in a report last week announced that Iran's exports in January rose by three percent. It added that Iran was the only Middle Eastern producer to see
exports rise last month, as others, like Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, saw a fall in loadings, in line with agreed OPEC-led output cuts by crude producers.
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