South Korea to release 3.17 million barrels oil from SPR starting January
09:20, 23 December 2021
South Korea will release 3.17 million barrels from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR)starting January 2022 as part of an agreement with the US and other oil-consuming nations to ease oil price.
The country’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) in a statement on Thursday said 2.08 million barrels of crude oil and 1.09 million barrels of oil products will be released for about three months until March. However, there may be a partial delay until April, depending on the production plan schedule for each company, the ministry said.
The crude oil will be distributed to local refiners on loan for one year, while the oil products will be sold via auction, according to the statement.
Sufficient stockpile
The 3.17 million barrels volume account for 3.3% of its 97 million barrels of the government’s oil stockpile, the ministry said. After deducted with the oil release volume, the stockpile is still sufficient to cover 103 days use.
“It is expected that the response capacity will be sufficient even in the event of an oil supply and demand crisis,” the ministry added.
The ministry said the Korean government decided the volume of oil reserve release after consultation with domestic oil companies and US counterparts.
Coordinated release
South Korea along with India, Japan, China, and UK in November agreed with the US for a coordinated release of their SPR to tame surging oil prices.
In 2011, the country released 3.46 million barrels from its SPR during the Libyan crisis, the ministry said.