The United States became the fifth biggest oil exporter to South Korea last year.
And our Kim Da-mi explains why South Korea has been importing more and more U.S. crude oil.
South Korea was the world's number two importer of U.S. crude oil in 2018, outstripping China.
Last year, South Korea brought in around 61 million barrels from the U.S., which is around 6 percent of the country's total oil imports. This made the U.S. the fifth largest exporter to Korea, after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
From 2017, South Korea's imports of American crude began to grow sharply because of price competitiveness.
While prices of oil produced in the Middle East rose last year due to U.S. sanctions against Iran, U.S. crude became cheaper as the country increased its shale oil production.

"One main reason is that the price gap between Dubai crude and West Texas Intermediate widened to 8 U.S. dollars per barrel last year, which led to local oil companies' preference for U.S. crude oil."

Market observers added that the size of South Korea's oil imports from the U.S. will depend on whether WTI remains significantly cheaper than Dubai crude. KIM Da-mi, Arirang News.