Asian imports of Iranian crude oil steady in January

Tokyo: Asian imports of Iranian oil held steady in January from a year earlier, as most of Iran's biggest crude buyers restrained their purchases until right before sanctions were lifted last month as part of an agreement on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
Iran's rehabilitation in the international commercial system is likely to start feeding through to official buyer's data from March after loading for exports surged this month and in late January, according to data.
Imports by Iran's four biggest buyers — China, India, Japan and South Korea — came to 981,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January, down 0.1 per cent from a year earlier, government and tanker-tracking data show. The January imports for the four main buyers were down from 2015's average rate of slightly above 1 million bpd during 2015.
With sanctions lifted after Tehran took the required steps set out in the July agreement with world powers on its nuclear programme, Iran is seeking to ramp up exports to regain market share and help boost an economy that stagnated under the restrictions.
The sanctions kept Iran's exports at around 1 million bpd - down from an average 2.5 million bpd in 2011 - and have been credited with forcing Tehran to the negotiating table over its disputed nuclear activities.
South Korea's January imports of Iranian crude more than tripled versus a year ago to about 209,000 bpd last month, the most since February 2014. At the same time, Indian imports slumped 37.6 percent from the year before. Japan's purchases of Iranian crude rose more than 10 percent in January from a year earlier to about 194,000 bpd, trade ministry data showed on Monday, the most since March last year.
Condensate to Korea
Iran sold a light hydrocarbon liquid pumped from its South Pars fields to South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemicals, as the removal of sanctions help it challenge producers of similar supplies such as Qatar.
The National Iranian Oil Company will load in April a cargo of condensate to be shipped to the South Korean petrochemical maker, according to an official from the state-run producer in the Middle East nation. That’s the first shipment of supply from the offshore South Pars natural gas fields to the Asian company, which had been purchasing Qatar’s competing deodorised field condensate while sanctions were in place on the Gulf state.