South Korea's KNOC refreshes Iraqi crude supplies in oil reserves

SEOUL/SINGAPORE: Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) issued several tenders to buy and sell Iraqi crude from its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) this week, three industry sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

KNOC earlier this week bought just under 3 million barrels of Basra Light crude from a South Korean company to fill its SPR, they said.

In a separate tender that closed on Friday, KNOC sold 2 million barrels each of Basra Light crude to Mercuria and Vitol to be loaded during October to December, the sources said.

The cargoes were sold on the condition that the supplies will have to be returned to KNOC's storage between August and October 2019, they said.