South Korea fully secures August crude needs with US, Mediterranean, Oceania supplies
South Korea has nearly met its monthly crude requirements in August through aggressive US crude purchases and regular cargoes from the Mediterranean and Oceania, while government freight rebates for non-Middle Eastern crude were poised to further accelerate refiners’ diversification efforts, according to Korea National Oil Corp. data and industry sources over Sept. 25-28. South Korea ...
In August, South Korea secured nearly all of its crude requirements through a combination of US crude imports, Mediterranean shipments, and Oceania supplies. According to Korea National Oil Corp. data and industry sources, South Korea imported 91.34 million barrels of crude in August, nearly identical to the 93.35 million barrels it imported the previous year.
The United States became South Korea's largest crude supplier in August, with imports surging 50% year-over-year to 17.93 million barrels. This increase was driven by ample US production, regular export programs, and government freight cost support, which helped offset the premium and longer journey of light sweet US crude to Northeast Asia.
Other non-Middle Eastern supplies also grew in August, including Mexican crude (up 227%), Algerian crude (up to 2.48 million barrels), and Kazakh CPC Blend crude (up almost double July's 1.05 million barrels). However, Middle Eastern crude still accounted for about 62% of South Korea's crude imports in the first eight months of the year, underscoring the continued reliance on staple feedstocks from the region.
Written by urgent.news from Hellenic Shipping News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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