Korea National Oil Corporation Directly Imports 360,000 Barrels of Crude Oil Produced in UAE to Domestic Market

C. GLORY ship used for crude oil transportation.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Recently, Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) successfully received and completed the unloading of 362,000 barrels of crude oil produced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last September and shipped to Korea.

KNOC prepared this summer to directly import crude oil produced overseas to Korea, assuming a situation where domestic crude oil supply would be disrupted due to the worsening global oil supply-demand imbalance.

The corporation stated that this direct crude oil import is intended to reassess the national energy security posture in emergencies and to identify and address new issues that may arise during the direct import process of overseas produced crude oil.

International oil prices such as WTI, which exceeded $120 in July, recently fell to the $80 range due to inflation concerns, tightening measures by various countries, and the resulting economic downturn forecasts, but have shown an upward trend again due to production cuts by OPEC Plus (OPEC+), intensifying instability more than ever.

The 362,000 barrels of crude oil imported by KNOC is Murban Crude produced from the Haliba oil field in the UAE, in which KADOC, a subsidiary of KNOC, holds a 40% stake.

The directly imported crude oil was brought in by SK Energy, which purchased the volume on the Singapore spot market and shipped it from the UAE to Korea.

As of the end of June this year, KNOC has stored approximately 96.5 million barrels of crude oil and refined products in storage facilities with a total capacity of 146 million barrels.

This amount corresponds to a supply that can sustain 111 days according to the International Energy Agency standards, even if domestic crude oil supply is interrupted.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.