Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said on the 12th that "we expect to get through April to May without releasing government strategic oil reserves." He also projected that naphtha supply and demand will soon enter a stable phase.
Appearing on KBS "Sunday Diagnosis" that morning, the Minister said, "In addition to the volumes already secured, corporations also have inventories they are voluntarily holding," adding, "Secured volumes for May have increased by 10 percentage points from last week, reaching nearly 80% of normal import levels."
She added, "During the Russia-Ukraine war, we even had to release reserves, but this time we should be able to get through April to May without releases."
Regarding the seven oil tankers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, she said, "We are working hard to resume passage, but it is difficult to predict the situation."
On passage along the route to Yanbu Port in Saudi Arabia, she said, "The Cheonghae Unit destroyer Dae Joyeong is preparing to escort our vessels at departure and to ensure our vessels can use the Red Sea route."
She also added, "We received a promise from the Saudi authorities to give top priority to allocating volumes for Korea."
She also addressed diversifying crude import sources. The Minister said, "We are considering imports of Kazakh crude along with U.S. crude," adding, "This is an era when resource security is extremely important, not only economic viability and efficiency." She said talks on importing Kazakh crude have made substantial progress and could allow the government to announce specific import volumes and plans as early as early next week.
She also projected that supply and demand of naphtha, a key basic feedstock, will gradually stabilize. She said, "In April to May, the level of naphtha secured will rise to about 80%," adding, "We are checking with the industry daily to steadily stabilize the situation, and we expect it to stabilize."
She further explained, "For corporations that use naphtha, situations have even arisen where it is better to suspend plant operations," adding, "We urgently prepared a measure for the government to cover the import price gap." The allocation of 869.1 billion won in this supplementary budget for a supply chain stabilization program was made for this reason.
On helium gas supply, she said, "We have secured substitute volumes from the United States through the end of June," adding, "We prepared to ensure there would be no disruption to semiconductor plant operations until then."
The Minister said, "The government will make every effort to turn this crisis into an opportunity."