Hyundai Oilbank, First Export of Finished Gasoline Products to the U.S.
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Hyundai Oilbank announced on the 15th that it plans to export finished gasoline products to the United States in the second quarter of this year. This is the first time it is exporting finished gasoline products to the North American region.
The reason the U.S. is importing gasoline appears to be due to the recent cold wave that hit Texas. According to industry sources, many refineries such as ExxonMobil and Chevron were unable to operate, causing a sharp decline in petroleum product inventories. The U.S. is the world's largest gasoline market and has traditionally had more supply than demand, exporting some of its domestic gasoline to South America and other regions. Domestic refiners have not shown much interest in exporting to the U.S. due to the greater distance compared to Asian markets.
Hyundai Oilbank has moved quickly to enter the U.S. gasoline market, where profitability has improved. It has been exporting gasoline semi-finished products to the U.S. at 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per month, and it is increasing profitability by changing the sales method from trading on the Singapore spot market to direct exports. A company official said, "Although 300,000 barrels is not a large volume, we are exploring sales channels wherever profits can be made, even in situations where refining margins remain low."
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The company is also actively targeting the Japanese market. Japan, with many small-scale ports where unloading products using large vessels is not easy, has not been a major focus due to limited export volumes per shipment. However, due to recent factors such as earthquakes and cold waves increasing export economics, Hyundai Oilbank is expanding exports to Japan using small vessels. Until 2019, Hyundai Oilbank had almost no exports to Japan, but since the end of last year, it has been selling about 100,000 barrels per month of diesel and kerosene. Japan now ranks seventh in the company's total petroleum product exports, following China, Singapore, and others.
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