(image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s exports of petroleum products reached an all-time high in the first half of the year, thanks to robust global demand and a rise in oil prices, government data showed Monday.
Outbound shipments of petroleum goods reached 260 million barrels in the January-June period, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The total amount jumped 34.3 percent on-year to US$22 billion in the first half, helped by a hike in global oil prices.
Exports of gasoline and diesel edged up 0.5 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, while those of jet fuel decreased 2.2 percent due to sluggish demand in the United States and the Netherlands.
In contrast, sales of Bunker C fuel oil, typically used in ships, soared 300 percent on strong demand in China and Malaysia.
South Korea’s oil imports also hit a record high of 560 million barrels in the first six months of this year, a 2.7 percent surge compared with a year ago, the ministry said.
Local refiners have reduced their heavy dependence on oil imports from the Middle Eastern nations and increased purchases of U.S. shale oil as part of a diversification strategy.
Oil imported from Middle Eastern nations accounted for 76.7 percent in the first half, shedding 7.3 percentage points from a year earlier.
Oil imports from Iran, the No. 4 exporter, dipped 34.5 percent to 50 million barrels as Korean refiners have turned to other sources ahead of Washington’s reviving economic sanctions on Tehran, which are set to effect in November.
South Korea imported 14.1 million barrels of U.S. oil over the period, which jumped 358 percent from a year earlier, already surpassing purchases in 2017.
(Yonhap)
