ECONOMIC IDEAL – Beijing, Nov21, IRNA- South Korea as one of the most industrialized countries in the world has always had good relations with Iran and is also a major customer in terms of energy purchasing, especially Ultralight oil.
According to IRNA in 2017, South Korea imported 147.87 million barrels of oil from Iran, a growth rate of 32 % in comparison to 2016. Statistics show that the country has bought 58.02 million barrels of oil from Iran in the last nine months of this year, although it will be less than 115.56 million barrels of oil for the same period in 2017, but getting exemptions will change the situation and the country can import more oil from Iran.
However, contrary to what some Western media have reported, including in the United States, the issue of reducing the oil imports from South Korea is not only from Iran, which in September reduced the purchase of oil from Saudi Arabia and its purchases in the same period last year.
South Korea imported 2.65 millon barrels of oil per day in September this year which is 14.7 % less than compared to the same period last year.
In total, the country in 2017 imported 1.118 billion barrels of crude oil from other countries which shows a growth of 3.7 % compared to a year earlier.
South Korea, in September of this year, stopped importing oil from Iran for the first time in 2012, which has, of course, a reason for the country to cut the purchase rate. The country knew that it would have to reduce the purchase rate to be exempted from American sanctions so it decided to do so in order to obtain this exemption and be able to deal with the purchase of crude oil from Iran.
The Korean sides had sought to get exemptions by negotiating with the American side after the US unilateral withdrawal of the Nuclear Deal with Iran which were realized and the country soon resumes the import of Iranian oil.
It seems, however, that the long – term and win-win relations between the two countries, whose annual transaction level hits US $15 billion, has led Seoul to seek a way to maintain its economic relations with Iran.
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Source : I R N A