Good Performances Continuing
South Korean oil refinery industry’s exports of petroleum products in the first half of this year hit an all-time high for the fourth consecutive year.
The Korea Petroleum Association announced on July 24 that SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil and Hyundai Oil Bank exported 236.94 million barrels of petroleum products in the first half of this year with a year-on-year increase of 3.5%.
The total export value added up to US$18.768 billion, up 32.6% from a year ago. The export value growth exceeding the export volume growth is because the unit export price increased 28.2% to US$79.2 per barrel based on a rise in oil price. The export margin increased 23% to US$11.2 per barrel as well.
The largest export destination for the four companies was China, which accounted for 24% of the total export volume. It was followed by Australia (11%), Japan (11%), Singapore (8%) and Vietnam (8%). China’s ratio rose five percentage points from a year earlier and ship fuel and air fuel exports to China showed a significant growth.By product type, diesel oil exports accounted for 35% of the total export volume, followed by air fuel (19%), gasoline (17%) and naphtha (9%).
“Petroleum product exports to Asian countries, gasoline and diesel oil in particular, increased a lot based on China’s recent quota expansion,” said the association, adding, “The export volume is likely to show some decline in the second half.”