SOUTH Korea is drawing growing interest from Middle Eastern oil producers seeking to store crude oil at the country’s petroleum reserve bases, the world’s sixth largest, amid a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a South Korean official and an expert on the matter have said.
The blockade in the wake of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran has taken a toll not only on South Korea and other nations dependent on oil imports but also oil-producing countries whose storage tanks are filling up, with nowhere to ship, according to Yang Gi Uk, head of the Industry and Resource Security Office at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
“Several countries have approached South Korea with inquiries and requests for consultations” about whether they can store crude oil at South Korean oil reserve bases, Yang told reporters last month, though he declined to name them.
For such countries as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, “crude oil exports account for a massive share of their economies, and they have concluded that they can significantly reduce risks by storing oil outside the Strait of Hormuz to sell at a later time”. — Kyodo
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