The government said on the 30th it will consider extending through July the strategic oil reserve swap (SWAP·exchange) program that has been in place since last month due to the prolonged Middle East war. It was originally scheduled to run through May.
The strategic oil reserve swap is a program in which the government lends oil reserves it holds to refiners that have secured alternative crude supplies. Because it takes a long time for the alternative crude to arrive in Korea, the government supplies it first. Corporations must return it to the government when the alternative supplies arrive in Korea.
Yang Gi-uk, Deputy Minister for Resource Security at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, said at the Middle East situation response headquarters' daily briefing that "to prepare for a prolonged situation, we decided to extend the strategic oil reserve swap program, which ends in May, through June." He added, "Depending on corporations' demand, we are also considering an extension through July."
The government took a cautious stance on whether to release state-held oil reserves. Yang said, "As corporations are actively using the strategic oil reserve swap at present, we need to check whether they want reserves to be released as before." He also said, "In May, a large volume of alternative supplies is expected to arrive, so we need to watch refiners' demand for reserve supply and demand."