Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said regarding concerns about domestic industry shutdowns due to a prolonged Middle East war, "I am confident such a situation will not occur."
Minister Kim answered this way when Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Un-ju asked during the National Assembly's economy field interpellation on the 6th, "Could our industry come to a halt due to instability in naphtha supply and demand?"
Minister Kim said, "We have established a daily monitoring system to manage and ensure that major industries do not face disruptions in supply and demand." He added regarding diversification of crude oil supply chains, "It is difficult to name specifics, but we are working with several specific countries."
Minister Kim assessed that the impact is significant on the domestic refining industry, which has a business structure centered on heavy crude, but said, "From the standpoint of petrochemical products, securing light naphtha is much more necessary." He added, "It won't be easy right away, but we are seeking ways to support establishing naphtha refining facilities capable of producing light oil going forward."
On liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply and demand, he said, "We understand that we have volumes secured through the end of the year," and added, "We are managing to prevent electricity rates from rising by operating nuclear power more." He also said, "Having passed the winter, electricity demand has decreased a bit, so the situation is somewhat more relaxed," while adding, "Because the Middle East situation is highly variable, we are also monitoring LNG closely."
Meanwhile, Democratic Party lawmaker Oh Ki-hyeong proposed expanding the scale of compensation for the increase in naphtha import unit prices included in the supplementary budget from 50% to 80% and broadening the scope of compensation to include basic feedstocks.
In response, Minister Kim said, "The situation has worsened more than we thought," adding, "We will take an active stance during the supplementary budget discussions."