Kuwait remained South Korea's number two crude oil supplier in May, with its shipments jumping 57.3 percent from a year earlier to 13.29 million barrels, or 429,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to latest data released by the state-run Korea National Oil Corporation.
Kuwait provided 16.1 percent of South Korea's total crude oil imports in May, compared to an 11.7 percent share in the same month of 2011 and 13.2 percent in April.
Overall South Korea's crude oil imports last month increased 13.9 percent year-on-year to 82.42 million barrels (2.66 million bpd). South Korea, with its heavy industrial base, is the world's fifth-biggest oil importer.
Saudi Arabia was its top crude supplier, with imports from the kingdom rising 22.0 percent from a year earlier to 894,000 bpd. The United Arab Emirates ranked third with 295,000 bpd, up 5.8 percent, followed by and Qatar and Iran.
South Korea's imports of Iranian crude oil plunged 39.5 percent on the year to 128,000 bpd, in its effort to avoid US financial sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program.
Earlier this month, Washington exempted seven countries - India, Malaysia, South Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan - from financial sanctions in return for significantly reducing purchases of Iranian oil. South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on Tuesday that the country will be forced to halt oil imports from Iran due to European Union sanctions that will ban insurance on Iranian oil shipments from July 1, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Asry plans multimillion dollar floating dock
Bahrain-based Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (Asry) plans to set up another floating dock entailing a multimillion dolalr investment, the company's chief executive said.
UAE’s non-oil job, output levels surge
While the UAE's non-oil producing private sector reported the fastest rise in employment levels in two years and a further boost in output levels during April, the rate of increase in new orders ease
Two Bahraini banks in merger talks as consolidation picks up
Bahrain's Al Salam Bank and BMI Bank, an affiliate of Oman's Bank Muscat, have announced plans to merge, a tie-up which would create the kingdom's third-largest bank by assets, the lenders said in a
Kuwait budget surplus may hit $52 billion
Kuwait is likely to have recorded another massive surplus during the last financial year of up to KD15 billion ($52.8 billion) as the price of Kuwait Export Crude (KEC) averaged $107 per barrel for