SEOUL, Aug 20 (Reuters) - South Korean refiners will resume
imports of up to 200,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude from
September, economy ministry sources said on Monday, ending a
two-month gap due to a European Union ban on insurance cover for
Iranian oil.
The resumption is unlikely to hinder South Korea's bid to
extend a U.S. sanction waiver later this year as imports in
2012, which were down 17 percent in the first half, will still
be almost 20 percent lower than last year.
"The imports will resume from early September loading,
meaning late September arrival," said a source at the economy
ministry who has direct knowledge of the matter but declined to
be identified as he was not authorised to speak to media.
"The oil will be loaded in Iran to be shipped by Iranian
tankers under Iranian insurance cover," the source said.
Japan and South Korea, Iran's third- and fourth-biggest oil
buyers, both halted imports in July as they scrambled to work
out how to continue imports under the EU sanctions, which have
made it tough to ship, insure and pay for Iranian oil.
Like their Chinese and Indian counterparts, Korean refiners
have asked Iran to deliver crude on Iranian tankers, government
and industry sources said this month. This shifts the
responsibility to Iran for insurance, sidestepping a ban in the
EU on insurers covering Iranian shipments.
The United States, European Union, and other Western nations
are trying to stop Iran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons
with toughened sanctions on oil exports, a major source of
income for Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Sources said Iran's crude exports dropped to about 1.1
million barrels per day in June and July from more than 2
million bpd at the start of the year.
Total imports envisaged at resumption will be six million
barrels per month, or 200,000 bpd. SK Energy will import four
million barrels per month and Hyundai Oilbank will import two
million barrels per month, the economy ministry source added.
This is the volume refiners agreed in term contracts with
Iran for this year.
"We see little probability that the imports will hinder
talks with the United States to extend a sanction waiver as this
year's import volume will be smaller than last year's," another
source at the economy ministry said.
"There was even a halt due to the EU insurance ban."
South Korea received in June a waiver for 180 days from U.S.
financial sanctions on Iran in return for significantly cutting
purchases of Iranian oil.
A spokesman at SK Innovation, which owns SK
Energy, told Reuters last Friday that the talks with Iran were
progressing well, and the refiner expected to resume the imports
around September loading.
Tehran offered to provide up to $1 billion of insurance
cover to Iranian vessels shipping oil to South Korea, Reuters
reported last month.
(Reporting by Meeyoung Cho; Editing by David Chance and
Clarence Fernandez)