As international oil prices surge after the U.S. strike on Iran, the oil industry said it will cooperate to stabilize domestic fuel prices and maintain oil supplies.
Three oil-related groups — the Korea Petroleum Association (KPA), the Korea Oil Distribution Association, and the Korea Oil Station Association — said in a news release on the 6th that although international oil prices are rising due to worsening conditions in the Middle East, they will work to prevent the increases from being reflected abruptly in retail prices at domestic gas stations.
The Korea Petroleum Association (KPA) said it will actively cooperate to ensure a stable supply of domestic petroleum products and stabilize prices as part of a preemptive energy supply-and-demand response system, following the government's issuance of a resource security crisis alert for crude oil and gas at the "interest" level.
Members of the Korea Petroleum Association (KPA) include the four domestic refiners: SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-OIL, and HD Hyundai Oilbank.
Although Singapore international gasoline prices — the benchmark for recent domestic pricing — are soaring, if the upward factors are reflected all at once in domestic gas station prices, the public's burden could rise due to inflation. The oil industry, taking this into account, plans to try to reflect price increases in stages.
Refiners said they had cooperated on price stability during the fuel tax cuts after the Russia-Ukraine war by immediately reflecting the cuts at company-operated gas stations, and added they will continue to disclose supply prices transparently and work to maintain market order.
The Korea Petroleum Association (KPA) also said it has held several review meetings between the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and refiners to continue consultations for energy supply-and-demand and price stabilization. Even in a supply crunch, it plans to provide sufficient volumes to distributors and gas stations to prevent sharp price spikes at the pump.
The Korea Oil Distribution Association and the Korea Oil Station Association also said they will ask petroleum agents and gas station operators for cooperation to ensure price increases are not reflected excessively and will work to ensure a stable oil supply.
The Korea Oil Distribution Association is composed of the four refiners and about 560 petroleum agents and serves as an intermediate wholesaler between refiners and gas stations. The Korea Oil Station Association has 10,440 member gas stations.