韩国将石脑油出口限制和石化原料囤积禁令延长五个月

South Korea will extend supply adjustment measures for naphtha and petrochemical products until January 26 next year, as uncertainty surrounding the Middle East persists.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on the 27th that it had issued public notices for the rules on naphtha export restrictions and supply adjustment, and for the rules banning the hoarding of petrochemical feedstocks and providing for emergency supply adjustment. The measures will apply for five months. The government had originally planned to run the measures through the 26th of this month, but decided to extend them by another five months as tensions in the Middle East remained unresolved.
Under the extension, naphtha businesses cannot export naphtha without prior approval from the trade minister, and hoarding is prohibited. Naphtha output, shipment volumes, shipment destinations and inventory levels must be reported to the minister daily. The minister may order naphtha production when necessary to stabilize domestic supply and demand. Hoarding of petrochemical feedstocks, including ethylene, propylene and benzene, is also banned, and the minister may designate specific items and order adjustments to output, shipments and sales for supply chain management purposes.
Separately, the ministry halted its strategic petroleum reserve swap program in early July and resumed it on the 24th. Under the program, reserve oil is lent to refiners before the crude they have secured arrives. "Supply and demand for crude and naphtha is currently stable, but uncertainty remains, including the fact that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has still not returned to normal, so we are maintaining the emergency measures," a ministry official said.