By Fars News Agency (FNA)
TEHRAN (FNA)- South Korea's crude imports from Iran surged 104 percent in February from a year earlier, the country's customs data and a refining source said.
South Korea imported 1.1 million tons of Iranian crude last month, or 294,069 barrels per day (bpd), up 4.5 times from January and double from a year earlier, preliminary customs data showed on Saturday, Reuters reported.
In the first two months of the year, South Korea imported 173,744 bpd, up 2.3 percent from a year ago, and a surge of 30 percent from the 134,000 bpd that Seoul took from Iran in 2013.
Under the Geneva accord between Iran and six major powers last November that took effect in January, South Korea and other Asian buyers can hold to crude imports at the sanctions-reduced rates reached at the end of 2013.
Of four South Korean refiners, SK Energy and Hyundai Oilbank are the only ones that buy Iranian oil on a regular basis. Their Iranian crude imports can vary from month to month as one of the two refiners that buy from the OPEC receives the oil only every other month.
