Biggest oil market embraces Iran again as Asian imports jump

Seoul

AT the biggest oil market in the world, crude from Iran is back in vogue.

The Persian Gulf state boosted exports to major oil consumers in Asia during the first half of this year, after international sanctions that restricted its supplies were eased in January. Japan's purchases increased 28 per cent, India bought 63 per cent more, South Korea's imports more than doubled while shipments to China gained 2.5 per cent during the six months, government and shipping data compiled by Bloomberg shows.