South Korea is expected to continue cutting back US crude purchases in 2021 as North American export grades no longer hold competitive edge over Middle Eastern sour crudes, while local refiners remain reluctant to buy high volumes of middle distillate-rich US grades due to dismal domestic demand for gasoline and jet fuel amid the prolonged .
S KOREA DATA: Nov crude imports from US fall, Saudi oil shipments extend uptrend
South Korea’s crude imports from the US nearly halved in November from a year earlier, while shipments from Saudi Arabia continued to rise as local refiners find their staple Middle Eastern oil to be the most reliable and economical feedstock option in times of market uncertainty.
South Korean refiners imported 832,068 mt, or 6.1 million barrels, of US crude in November, down 49.3% from 12.03 million barrels they received in the same month a year earlier, preliminary customs data showed.
The cutback in US crude imports marked the seventh consecutive monthly decrease. The November shipments from the US were also down 33% from 9.1 million barrels in October.