South Korea’s imports of U.S. crude oil are expected to hit all-time highs in September and October, as the world’s fifth-largest oil importer cuts off Iranian oil imports and looks for cheaper alternatives for other Middle Eastern crude grades, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing trade flow data and four sources familiar with the matter. Since last month, U.S. crude oil loadings en route to South Korea have been rising, and are expected to hit a record-high of 6 million barrels in each of the months of September and October, according to Reuters’ sources and Thomson Reuters Eikon trade flow data. In the first half of 2018, South Korea’s oil imports from the United States jumped by more than four times from the same period last year, to a total of 14.1 million barrels from January to June 2018, data from Korea National Oil Corp shows. This translates into an […]