Publish Date: 25 April 2017 - 11:00

Beijing, April 25, IRNA -- For the first ever, Iran emerged second major exporter and supplier of crude oil to South Korea in the first quarter of 2017.

In a report, posted on South Korea's National Oil Corporation (KNOC) website on Tuesday, South Korea's Customs Office said following elimination of sanctions on Tehran, Iran's success to win the second rank in exporting oil to South Korea was not far from expectation.
It said the Islamic Republic soon managed to regain its position in oil exports.
The report added that oil imports from Iran in March doubled compared to that in the same period last year, and reached a record 18.54 billion barrels (597,935 bpd).
KNOC reported that Iran exported 46.73 billion barrels of oil in the Januray-March period in 2017, showing more than double increase in the figure for the same period last year.

It said in the first quarter of 2016, Iran was the fifth major oil importer to the country following Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar, but this year it ranked second.

According to the statistics available, South Korea is the fifth major oil importer worldwide for importing 278.18 billion barrels in the first three months of the current year. The figure is up 4.9 percent compared to that in the same period last year.

Based on Korea's Costumes Office, Saudi Arabia, with more than 838,000 bpd exports, is the biggest oil exporter to the Asian country.

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