SEOUL, March 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean oil refiners will likely benefit from a crisis in the U.S. shale industry sparked by plunging international crude prices, industry sources said Wednesday. A recent tumble in oil prices is projected to cut U.S. shale oil firms’ production sharply down the road, leading to a drop in [...]
SEOUL, March 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean oil refiners are facing a double whammy of sluggish demand and tumbling international crude prices that will make a big dent in their first-quarter earnings, industry sources said Monday. Since the coronavirus outbreak, local refineries have been struggling to cope with falling refining margins and weaker demand [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The new coronavirus outbreak is expected to deal a fresh blow to South Korean oil refiners and chemical makers already reeling from worsening profits, industry sources said Thursday. The pessimistic outlook comes as South Korean refineries’ exports to China, their largest overseas market, are projected to drop sharply because [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean refiners said Tuesday they’re ready to cope with new International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations on sulfur content in marine fuel with desulfurization and upgraded facilities. Starting Jan. 1, 2020, the IMO’s new rule will go into effect limiting the sulfur cap of marine fuel to 0.5 percent [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean refiners said Monday they are closely monitoring potential fallout from drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s crude processing facilities at the weekend that have rattled the global oil industry. Saudi Arabia shut down about half of its oil production Saturday following a series of drone attacks that damaged [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major refiners may see their earnings continue to slide in the current quarter due largely to weakened cracking margins, sliding oil prices and the Korean won’s weakness, analysts here said Tuesday. South Korea’s top four refiners — SK Innovation Co., GS Caltex Corp., S-Oil Corp. and Hyundai [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major refiners are expected to see improved earnings for the second half of the year on recovering refining margins, industry observers here said Tuesday. The benchmark Singapore complex gross refining margin (GRM) for the first week of July was estimated at US$6 per barrel, up $2.8 from [...]
SEJONG, Feb. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean companies imported US$101.2 million worth of Iranian crude last month, the first such move in five months, data showed Tuesday. The January figure represents less than one-fifth of $539 million, the average monthly Iranian crude oil imports for the first seven months of 2018, according to the [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The role of foreign players in the South Korean oil market is bound to increase as Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. has decided to sell some of its Hyundai Oilbank Co. shares to Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia. No immediate changes are to be expected from [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean refiners and petrochemical companies are struggling to diversify imports of ultralight crude following the U.S. reimposition of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, industry sources said Thursday. Washington on Monday reinstated all Iranian sanctions removed under the 2016 nuclear deal but allowed South Korea and seven [...]