South Korea's imports of crude oil continued to rise in the first quarter of 2017 from a year earlier amid a downbeat trend in oil prices, government data showed Monday.
The combined inbound purchase of crude oil reached 278.18 million barrels in the first three months, up 4.9 percent on-year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The import of petroleum products, however, fell 4.2 percent on-year to 78 million barrels in the cited period.
(Yonhap)
A hike in Iranian crude imports led the increase, as South Korea purchased 46.7 million barrels of oil from the Middle East country over the three-month period, surging 104.5 percent from a year earlier.
As a result, Iran became the second biggest oil exporter to South Korea at the end of March, following Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, South Korea's export of oil products amounted to 126.9 million barrels through March, up 8.7 percent from a year ago, on the back of an increase in the shipments to Asia and the United States.
Exports to China, the biggest buyer of South Korean oil products, climbed 2.6 percent on-year to 22.5 million barrels in the first quarter, while those to the US soared 45 percent to 11.4 million barrels on strong demand for aviation fuel. (Yonhap)
