Preliminary figures released by South Korea’s Customs Service on Wednesday showed that the country recorded no imports of Iranian crude oil in September, amid reports that US restrictions had brought Iran’s seaborne oil shipments to a halt.
Energy intelligence platform Vortexa reported that Iranian crude exports transported by sea dropped to zero during the second week of September. Meanwhile, approximately 83 million barrels of Iranian crude remained aboard tankers, including 43 million barrels stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz.
Claire Youngman, Vortexa’s Head of Marine Risk, said the blockade had effectively prevented Iranian crude oil from leaving the Gulf. She added that liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exports fell by 48% from the previous month, reaching their lowest level since at least January 2023.
In contrast, South Korea’s overall crude oil imports increased to 10.8 million tonnes in September, compared with 10.6 million tonnes during the same period last year.
