Oil shipments from Saudi Arabia to South Korea rose by 10.9% to reach 3.52m tons per month, or around 831,4b/d, during March compared to 2016, Reuters informed.

However, South Korea’s imports of Saudi crude oil decreased 2.6% from 3.61m tons per month during February as the world’s top oil exporter complies with the deal made by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production.

Meanwhile, South Korea imported a monthly 2.26m tons of Iranian crude oil, divided into 534,368b/d, during March 2017, Tasnim News Agency reported.

The number represents a 38.3% increase from the 1.63m tons imported in February, and a 118.8% increase compared to the 1.03m tons during the same period in 2016.

Iran had been one of the biggest exporters of crude oil to South Korea, but international sanctions on Tehran had drastically reduced bilateral trade. Oil deals between both countries regained force after sanctions were lifted after Tehran and the Group 5+1, including Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany, reached a nuclear deal in July 2015 and started implementing it on January 2016.