South Korea imported 565,444 tons of Iranian oil in June, equivalent to 138,157 barrels per day, Reuters reported.

In June, Washington granted new waivers to China, India, South Korea, and six other countries from the sanctions on Iran. The exemptions will next come up for review in November.

South Korean refiners South Korea Energy and Hyundai Oilbank are the only two companies in the country that import Iranian crude.

On June 13, a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Iran’s crude output had risen by 30,000 barrels a day in May to 2.68 million barrels a day.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.
The unilateral US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

NTJ/BA