À̹ÌÁö È®´ë The United States has a growing share in South Korea¡¯s oil imports as local oil refiners have diversified sources of crude oil beyond the Middle East market to ensure supply stability.
The Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) announced Wednesday that the share of U.S. crude oil in the imports by Korean oil refiners soared to 16 to 20 percent last year from a mere 1 to 2 percent in 2017. U.S. oil accounted for 20 percent of SK Innovation¡¯s entire imports in 2019, up from 2 percent in 2017 and 11 percent in 2018. GS Caltex also saw the figure jump to 18 percent last year, from 1 percent in 2016 and 2 percent in 2017.
At Hyundai Oilbank, the proportion of U.S. oil increased to 16 percent last year from 1 percent in 2017, while the share of oil imported from the Middle East fell to below 50 percent for the first time among the oil refinery industry. In contrast, S-Oil saw its oil imports from the U.S. grow by a fraction as its parent is Saudi Aramco, the world¡¯s biggest oil company.
An industry official said the increase in U.S. oil imports was partly driven by the country¡¯s boom in production of shale oil that is the second cheapest source of new oil supply, and local oil refiners began raising the imports of shale oil from the U.S. to reduce their dependency on the Middle Eastern market.
The Middle East provides high quality crude oil at affordable prices but there are high risks of supply disruption due to frequent geopolitical frictions in the region. Two key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia were destroyed by drone attacks last September, and Iran carried out a missile attack on air bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq earlier this month. SK Innovation cut down the share of oil from the Middle East to 72 percent last year from 81 percent in 2016, and GS Caltex also reduced the proportion to 70 percent from 85 percent over the same period.
By Won Ho-sup and Choi Mira
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]