South Korea still increasing Iran oil imports

South Korean imports of Iranian crude oil doubled to 137,467 barrels per day from August. South Korea's imports of Iranian crude oil in September more than doubled from the previous month to 4.12 million barrels, or 137,467 b/d, compared with 1.97 million barrels in August, data released by state-owned Korea National Oil Corp said. The country had no crude imports from Iran in August and September last year to cope with the new situation created by the US-led sanctions against Iran. "Crude imports from Iran increased in September compared with the previous month," a KNOC official said. At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran. The sanctions came into force in early summer 2012. The US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded allegation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.