Hyundai Oilbank Corp., South Korea’s fourth-largest oil refiner, is seeking to diversify its oil import lines as the US-led sanctions on Iran may disrupt oil shipments, Yonhap News Agency reported Monday, citing company officials.
Iranian oil accounts for 20% of Hyundai Oilbank’s total imports, while its bigger South Korean rivals such as S-Oil Co. and GS Caltex Corp. do not buy crude oil from Iran, the report said.
SK Energy Co., the country’s number one refiner, buys crude oil from Iran equivalent to 10% of its total oil import.
“As for now, there are no problems in buying oil and paying on them,” a company official was quoted as saying. “But we are studying the way of diversifying our oil import lines.”
The state-run Korea National Oil Corp. imported just 4 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran last year. Iran is the fourth-largest source of crude for South Korea, and disruption of shipments could have a big impact on the South Korean economy that relies on imports for all its energy resources, the report said.
South Korea is the world’s fifth-biggest oil importer. The government is also weighing the fallout of a move against Iran as part of US-led pressure to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, as billions of dollars are also at stake in Iranian contracts for South Korea’s construction firms and shipbuilders.
