S. Korea seeks to lower entry bar for refineries, oil traders
SEJONG- South Korea plans to adjust mandatory oil storage capacity in a bid to expand commercial trading of petroleum products, South Korea’s Trade Ministry said Monday(May 26th).
Currently oil refiners are required to maintain a minimum storage capacity of some 19.1 billion liters or 120 million barrels. the amount represents their combined output for 45 days according to South Korea’s (Yonhap) news agency.
A revision of the related law proposed at a deregulation meeting held over the weekend would lower the minimum requirement to about 8.69 billion liters or 50 million barrels, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.
The ministry said the remaining storage space for 70 million barrels may be used for oil trading.
“They (refiners) may need the additional capacity for their own use as the country annually exports about US $50 billion worth of petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel” said Kang Kyung-Sun head of the ministry’s petroleum division.
Another official said the government expects about 30 percent of the storage units to be used in commercial trading.
The move comes as part of government efforts to host an international oil hub.-WAM
