South Korea's oil import prices are estimated to have fallen to their lowest in nearly four years last month as international prices plummeted, the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) said Sunday.

South Korea brought in 74.47 million barrels of crude oil in October at an average of $93.75 per barrel, KNOC's statistics showed. This is a 15.5 percent markdown from $111 in the same month last year and is the lowest price since January 2011. It is also the first time that the price has fallen to under $100 since February 2011.

According to the KNOC, the oil import prices in November are likely to be lower as international prices dropped even faster, close to half of what they were a year before.

Cheaper oil prices normally are followed by more investment and consumption in South Korea, which relies heavily on imports, but policymakers have worried that this time, they will limit inflation to far below the target band and cripple the already weak demand. 

The Bank of Korea data showed November producer prices fell to a near 4-year low. Its governor, after announcing a key rate freeze at December's monetary policy meeting, said the central bank is likely to revise down the inflation target because of plummeting oil prices.

The Korea Energy Economics Institute projected the international prices of oil to stay between $64 and $101 in 2015, the low trend protracted by the slow recovery in world economy, a rise in new sources of energy and the strengthening dollar. (Yonhap)