South Korea did not import crude oil from Iran in December, compared with 1.1 million tonnes imported a year ago, preliminary data from Korea Customs Service showed on Tuesday.
The world's fifth-largest crude buyer imported a total 12.4 million tonnes of crude last month against 13.2 million tonnes imported a year ago, the data also showed.
Final data for South Korea's crude oil imports last month will be published by state-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) later the month. The KNOC data is considered the industry standard for South Korea's oil imports.