Surpassing the previous high of 623,000 b/d in October 2019, South Korea's imports of crude from the Americas, mainly from the US, rose to a new record high of 683,000 b/d in March. US crude has gained market share in South Korea this year. Crude from the Americas contributed 21 percent of South Korea's total crude imports during Q1 against 15 percent for the same period a year earlier.
South Korea's total crude imports in March fell to 2.713 million b/d, down by 8.8 percent from February and lower by 3.5 percent from March 2019. Imports fell despite stable refinery runs. South Korean refinery throughputs were 2.83 million b/d in March, steady from February.
South Korea imported 1.68 million b/d of crude from the Mideast Gulf in March, down from 2.05 million b/d imported in February and lower from 2.04 million b/d in March last year. March imports of crude from Saudi Arabia were steady from February at 809,000 b/d and higher than 636,000 b/d in March 2019. Imports from Kuwait fell to 324,000 b/d in March from 485,000 b/d in February and 387,000 b/d in March last year.
From just 23,000 b/d the previous year, imports of crude from Africa rose to 78,000 b/d in March. South Korea imported 96,000 b/d from Africa during January-March compared with 56,000 b/d in the same period last year.
Asia-Pacific crude made up 9.1 percent of South Korea's Q1 imports compared with 11 percent the same time last year. Imports of Indonesian crude fell to zero during January-March compared with 12,000 b/d for the same period last year.
