S.Korea to take 1st Iran LPG cargoes in 7 months

South Korea will receive a shipment of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for the first time since imports were halted last October due to European sanctions that made it difficult to get shipping insurance.

South Korean LPG importer E1 Corp bought 33,000 tonnes of propane and 11,000 tonnes of butane that were loaded at an Iranian port.

One of the sources said there had been no Iranian LPG shipments since last October, although customs data has shown tonnage that the company has moved out from bonded areas.

U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed at choking the flow of oil money into Iran and forcing Tehran to negotiate on curbing its controversial nuclear programme halved Iran's crude exports in 2012, costing it as much as $5 billion a month. The EU broadened those sanctions to importing and transporting Iranian gas last October, also bringing the LPG exports to a halt.

Four South Korean & Two Nigerians oil workers kidnapped

Four expatriates and two Nigerians working for the South Korean construction firm Hyundai Heavy Industries Limited were kidnapped in southern Nigeria, police said. “Some armed men went to a Korean company, Hyundai, located in a forest by the Atlantic Ocean beach, and kidnapped four expatriates and two Nigerians,” police spokesman Fidelis Odunna said.
Gangs have frequently abducted expatriates working in the oil-producing Niger Delta in ransom kidnappings, but Nigerians from wealthy families have increasingly become their targets in recent years.
Hyundai Heavy in Seoul confirmed the kidnappings, but said one of the Nigerians had apparently been released.
“The foreign ministry and the South Korean embassy in Nigeria are operating an emergency task force led by the ambassador,” the company said in a statement. “Related government agencies have held emergency meetings and are keeping in close contact with the Nigerian police authorities and the foreign ministry to ensure the safety and early release of the abductees,” it said.

South Korea firms set to resume Iran oil imports

South Korean oil refiners are in talks with Iran to resume oil imports by using Iranian tankers as a way to circumvent European Union sanctions. Negotiations are currently underway between Tehran and officials of Hyundai Oilbank, SK Energy. A spokesman for SK Energy, one of the South Korean refiners which previously bought Iranian oil, confirmed the ongoing talks but refused to elaborate. An official of the Seoul's knowledge economy ministry said Seoul refiners were discussing with Tehran ways to resume imports, including letting the Middle Eastern nation provide tankers or cover insurance for shipments.

South Korea bought 9.4 percent of its crude oil from Iran last year. It had been sharply reducing purchases this year in return for a waiver from separate US sanctions on Tehran. Imports stopped entirely in July when an EU oil embargo on Iran over its nuclear programme took effect, banning European firms from insuring Iranian oil shipments.

South Korea is a close ally of the United States, which stations 28,500 troops in the country to deter any North Korean attack. But Iran is the South Korea's third-largest trade market in the Middle East. Tehran warned in June it would reconsider ties with Seoul if it stopped importing oil from Iran.