SOUTH Korea plans to receive 6 million barrels or more of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Korea's presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said on Friday (March 6).
Kang told reporters the arrangement followed instructions from President Lee Jae Myung, after consultations with Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi.
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Under the plan, South Korea will dispatch two oil tankers to a UAE port that does not require transit through the strategically sensitive Strait of Hormuz, with the UAE’s state oil company filling the vessels with about 4 million barrels of crude, Kang said during a briefing in Seoul.
In addition, the UAE has assured Seoul it could supply another 2 million barrels from crude reserves already stored in South Korea if needed.
Kang said the imports were expected to help stabilise domestic energy supply and demand while easing pressure on oil prices, which he said had recently reacted sharply to global developments.
