For signs of how the U.S. shale boom is transforming the global flow of oil, look halfway across the world at South Korea.
The Asian nation, which relies on the Middle East for about 86 percent of its oil imports, is benefiting as new output from Texas to North Dakota displaces the crudes that fed U.S. refineries for decades.
South Korea received this month a shipment of Alaskan oil for the first time in at least eight years and may buy more, the importing company said. The country was one of the first to receive a cargo of the ultralight U.S. oil known as condensate after export rules were eased.
The U.S. shale revolution has driven oil output to the highest in more than three decades, reducing America’s need for overseas purchases and sinking global prices into a bear market.
South Korea is seeking to reduce its dependence on Middle East crude just as OPEC’s biggest members discount supplies to protect market share and Goldman Sachs Group predicts the group is losing influence.
“The import burden for the U.S. has come down over the last few years,” Virendra Chauhan, a London-based analyst at Energy Aspects, said by phone Oct. 29. “A lot more crudes have become available to flow east into countries such as Korea.”
South Korea, which imports about 97 percent of the supplies used to satisfy its energy needs, receives more than a third of its oil from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter and the largest member in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Its purchases from other OPEC members are declining. Crude imports from Iran fell to 4 million barrels last month, 27 percent below the five-year average, according to data from Korea National Oil Corp. compiled by Bloomberg. Libyan supplies declined 55 percent last month from August, while shipments from Iraq dropped by 16 percent.
“The need for diversifying supplies grew more than ever as the Middle East turned into a region full of instabilities,” Oh Sae-sin, an associate research fellow at the government-funded Korea Energy Economics Institute, said by phone on Oct. 27. “South Korea is laying the groundwork for a relationship with the U.S.”
WTI for December delivery decreased 26 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $80.86 a barrel at 12:49 p.m. Singapore time. Brent lost 36 cents to $85.88.
Starting next year, South Korean refiners can receive a tax rebate of as much as 16 won (2 cents) per liter (0.26 gallon) of refined fuel sold domestically derived from non-Middle East crude, according to the Petroleum and Petroleum-Alternative Business Act signed into law in September by President Park Geun-Hye.
“South Korean refiners are testing different crudes to cut their expenses as their profits are suffering,” Lee Chung-jae, an analyst at KTB Securities in Seoul, said by phone on Oct. 28. “Refiners will need to figure out if the subsidies they get will take away the additional costs they needed to pay to get crude from outside the Middle East.”
The U.S. Commerce Department in June opened the door to more U.S. oil exports as long as the crude is lightly processed, tempering the impact of a law that’s banned most overseas petroleum shipments for the last four decades. Condensates have been abundant in shale formations during the drilling boom, leading to oversupply on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
SK Innovation, South Korea’s largest refiner, bought 400,000 barrels of the U.S. condensate for delivery next month from Mitsui & Co. and is seeking to purchase more, a company official said on Oct. 2. (Bloomberg)
