S. Korea's Crude Imports from Iran Double

South Korea imported 1.8 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran in January, up 108.8 percent from a year ago, preliminary data from the Korea Customs Service showed on Wednesday.

That is equivalent to 13.2 million barrels, according to a Reuters calculation.

The world’s fifth-largest crude buyer imported a total of 12.4 million tonnes of crude last month against 10.9 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 the state-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) later this month. The KNOC data is considered the industry standard for South Korea's oil imports.

Reporting by Jane Chung