South Korea to release 3.17 million barrels of SPR oil from January

South Korea will release 3.17 million barrels of its Strategic Oil Reserves (SPRs) from January 2022 as part of a deal with the United States and other oil-consuming countries to reduce the price of oil. oil.

The country’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) said in a statement Thursday that 2.08 million barrels of crude oil and 1.09 million barrels of petroleum products would be released for about three months until March. However, there may be a partial delay until April, depending on the timing of each company’s production plan, the ministry said.

Crude oil will be distributed to local refiners on loan for one year, while petroleum products will be auctioned off, the statement said.

Sufficient stock

The volume of 3.17 million barrels represents 3.3% of the 97 million barrels of the government’s oil stock, the ministry said. After deducting the oil release volume, the stock is still sufficient to cover 103 days of use.

“It is expected that the response capacity will be sufficient even in the event of a crisis in oil supply and demand,” the ministry added.

The ministry said the Korean government decided on the volume to release oil reserves after consulting with domestic oil companies and their US counterparts.

Coordinated release

South Korea, India, Japan, China and the United Kingdom agreed in November with the United States on a coordinated release of their SPR in order to contain soaring oil prices.

In 2011, the country released 3.46 million barrels of its SPR during the Libyan crisis, the ministry said.

Read more: Oil prices fall due to fears of US reserve release, Covid-19 in the EU

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