Iranian oil was the cheapest of all crude oil Korea imports from abroad, except for Colombia, Oman and the Saudi-Kuwait neutral zone from where only small volumes are bought.

Korea imported 846.59 million barrels of crude oil in the 11 months leading up to November from 23 countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran and Oman, according to Petronet, an oil information provider run by the Korea National Oil Corporation.

“Iran accounted for 9.76 percent of Korea’s crude oil imports and is the fourth-largest in import volume, but is the least expensive in effect,” an official at a domestic oil refiner said.

“Therefore, if Iranian oil imports are reduced or banned, it would definitely hurt Korean refiners.”

Seoul has yet to decide whether to cut crude oil imports from Iran as Washington urges countries to join sanctions against the Middle Eastern country to make it give up its nuclear ambitions. The European Union, which buys about 20 percent of Iran’s oil exports, adopted an oil embargo against Iran on Monday.

The average import price of Colombian oil was the cheapest at $96.22 per barrel, followed by oil from Oman ($100.46 per barrel) and the Saudi-Kuwait neutral zone ($102.19 per barrel).

Import volumes from Colombia, Oman and the neutral zone, however, account for merely 0.33 percent, 0.18 percent and 0.2 percent of Korean imports.

The average price of Iranian crude oil was the fourth lowest at $102.89 per barrel.

Iranian oil is inexpensive because it is heavy crude oil which has high sulfur content and therefore requires a desulfurization facility for refining. It also produces less of the high value-added products such as gasoline and light oil compared to light crude oil.

The most expensive crude oil was from Yemen ($119.77 per barrel), followed by Norway ($116.81), Vietnam ($115.20), Malaysia ($112.83), Brunei ($111.96), Russia ($111.49) and the Philippines ($110.60).

Crude oil from Middle Eastern countries other than Iran, Oman and Yemen, such as the United Arab Emirates ($108.60), Saudi Arabia ($106.29), Qatar ($105.74), Kuwait ($104.71) and Iraq ($103.41) was imported at prices up to $5.71 higher than Iranian oil.

In import volumes, Saudi Arabia sold the most at 265.57 million barrels, followed by Kuwait (104.13 million barrels), Qatar (84.50 million barrels) and Iran (82.60 million barrels)

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)