Domestic Petroleum Product Consumption Hits All-Time High Last Year... Gasoline Consumption Also Sets Record

Korea National Oil Corporation (President Kim Dongseub) finalized the 2024 domestic petroleum supply and demand statistics and published them through its oil information network, Petronet.

According to the corporation, South Korea’s crude oil imports in 2024 reached 1.03 billion barrels, a 2.3% increase compared to the previous year. The share of Middle Eastern crude oil was 71.5%, a slight decrease from 71.9% in the previous year, while the share of crude oil from the Americas increased to 21.6% from 19.1% in the previous year.

In 2024, the total import value of crude oil and petroleum products was $113.1 billion, accounting for approximately 17.9% of the nation’s total imports. During the same period, the export value was $47.9 billion, representing about 7.0% of the nation’s total exports, and exerting a significant impact on the domestic economy and industry.

The import volume of petroleum products increased by 5.8% from the previous year to 390 million barrels, with naphtha (62.7%) and LPG (26.4%) accounting for the majority.

The export volume of petroleum products rose by 4.0% year-on-year to 510 million barrels, marking the third-highest level since the corporation began compiling export and import statistics in 1992. This result is attributed to domestic refiners expanding exports of high value-added light oil products. The export share by product was diesel (39.8%), gasoline (22.4%), and jet fuel (18.1%).

In 2024, petroleum product output reached a record high of 1.28 billion barrels, with the production of gasoline (up 8.5%) and jet fuel (up 4.2%) increasing significantly in response to rising domestic and international demand.

Domestic petroleum product consumption also reached an all-time high, increasing by 3.5% from the previous year to 960 million barrels. In particular, increased consumption of naphtha and LPG in the petrochemical sector led to a 5.1% rise in total industrial sector consumption, while the transportation sector also showed an upward trend. In the transportation sector, diesel consumption decreased by 2.4% due to a reduction in diesel vehicles, but jet fuel (up 13.8%) and gasoline (up 5.2%) consumption increased. Gasoline consumption reached its highest level on record.

The corporation collects data from approximately 23,000 oil businesses each month to compile and disclose the government-approved petroleum supply and demand statistics, and finalizes and publishes the annual data after review.

Korea National Oil Corporation

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