Korea seeks to double imports of Iranian oil

Korea is pushing to more than double its imports of crude and condensates from Iran as part of efforts to boost its oil trade with the Middle Eastern country, industry sources said Tuesday.

Seoul and Tehran will likely sign a series of deals on the promotion of the oil trade early next month, when President Park Geun-hye is to make a trip to Iran to promote business ties between the nations, leading a delegation of some 200 businesspeople.

Her visit, the first of its kind by a Korean president since the two sides established diplomatic ties in 1962, comes as Iran has emerged as a high-potential market after years of international sanctions were lifted in January.

Iran with a population of over 80 million is a resource-rich nation, holding the world's fourth-largest oil reserves and the second-largest gas reserves.

"Korea and Iran are expected to sign several memoranda of understanding as Korea is seeking to find a stable source of crude, while Iran wants to have a base for tapping into the Northeast Asian market," an industry source said.

With the signing of the deals, Seoul is moving to increase its daily crude imports from Iran to around 280,000 barrels this year from 115,000 barrels last year, he said.

Iran had been a major exporter of crude to Korea, but international sanctions on Tehran for its nuclear program had sharply reduced bilateral trade.

Last year, Korea imported $2.20 billion worth of crude oil from Iran, down 51 percent from the previous year and far lower than $9.36 billion in 2011.

By volume, imports of crude and condensates came to 42.4 million barrels last year. Condensates, which are very similar to light stabilized crude oil, are used as feedstock for oil refining and other petrochemical industries.

Imports of crude from Iran, however, began to surge this year following the lifting of the international sanctions on Tehran.

In the first three months of this year, Korean imports of Iranian crude jumped 17.6 percent on-year to $629 million, with the volume reaching 22.85 million barrels.

Imports of Iranian condensates rose more than ninefold from a year earlier to $247 million in the January-March period. For all of last year, imports of condensates from Iran came to $358 million.

On top of boosting imports of Iranian crude, Korea will push for a joint project to stockpile 2 million barrels of Iranian crude and condensates at a storage facility south of Seoul, according to the sources. (Yonhap)