SEOUL: South Korea’s leading energy company SK Incheon Petrochem plans to increase imports of light crude oil from sources including Nigeria to replace Iranian condensates, due to rising prices for the Middle Eastern oil.
SK Incheon Petrochem, fully owned by SK Innovation, South Korea’s largest refiner, was quoted by Reuters to have said in a statement that it would bring in a combined three million barrels of light crude oil for April as an alternative to supplies of Iranian condensate.
Since the fourth quarter of last year, SK Incheon Petrochem has cut its monthly Iranian condensate imports by nearly half to 1.1 million barrels and increased imports of light crude oil from sources such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Nigeria, the company said in the statement.
“We will increase our light crude imports for the time being in response to increasing prices for Iranian oil,” the firm said. The latest move by SK Incheon Petrochem douses fears about the chances of Nigerian crude exports to the Asian country.
