Crude oil produced by the overseas subsidiaries and equity investment corporations of Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) will arrive in Korea next month. This is the first time since the Middle East crisis that oil produced from KNOC's overseas subsidiaries and equity investment blocks is being imported. As supplies of Middle Eastern crude were disrupted by the U.S.-Iran war, KNOC is bringing in oil secured from other regions to sell to refiners.
According to the government and the refining industry on the 11th, crude produced from blocks held by KNOC's overseas subsidiary Harvest in Canada, the onshore block of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an equity investment corporation, and the UAE Al Dhafra block is scheduled to be imported in two batches in June–July. Canadian crude will arrive in two cargoes of 600,000 barrels each, and crude produced in the UAE will first arrive in two cargoes of 500,000 barrels each.
Harvest in Canada, in which KNOC holds 100% equity, produces 19,000 barrels per day of oil and gas in Alberta and British Columbia in central western Canada.
KNOC's equity stake in the UAE ADNOC onshore block is 0.9%. KNOC purchased 30% of the 3% onshore equity that GS Energy secured in 2015, joining the block project in 2020. KNOC has secured about 200 million barrels of reserves from the crude oil deposited in the UAE ADNOC onshore block.
In addition, KNOC holds 30% equity in the UAE Al Dhafra block. The block's crude reserves total 228 million barrels, of which KNOC has secured 68 million barrels.
In the United States, it operates a company called KNOC Eagle Ford Company. KNOC established this company to invest equity in U.S. blocks. KNOC Eagle Ford Company holds equity stakes of 23.7% and 71% in two locations: the onshore Eagle Ford block and the offshore MC21 block. The respective blocks are producing 24,000 barrels per day and 10,400 barrels per day of crude oil.
KNOC and domestic refiners are importing crude produced in Canada and the UAE under contracts that allow KNOC to take crude in proportion to its investment. Regions where Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) has larger allocations appear to have been chosen as priority supply sources.
In October 2022, when international oil prices rose after the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, KNOC imported 362,000 barrels of crude produced from a UAE block and sold it to SK Energy. Earlier, in 2013, it also sold 2 million barrels, including 300,000 barrels of crude produced in the North Sea by its U.K. subsidiary Dana Petroleum, to GS Caltex.
A senior government official said, "We are importing as much crude as refiners said they would purchase," and added, "Since this is not for stockpiling, future import volumes will be set according to refiners' willingness to buy."