国际油价升破100美元，韩国拟延长燃油限价并扩大运费补贴，炼油商承压但补偿与高景气形成对冲

Oil Tops $100 as Korea Caps Fuel Prices, Squeezing Refiners - Seoul Economic Daily
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Even as international oil prices continued to climb, gasoline prices at service stations nationwide edged down from the previous week under the government's price ceiling, marking a 17th straight week of declines. The photo shows a service station at Mannam Plaza in Seoul's Seocho District on the 13th. Yonhap News
Global oil prices have climbed back above $100 a barrel, as talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz stall and a strike hit Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, an alternative route for crude shipments. In response, the South Korean government is moving to extend a price ceiling on refined fuels and to expand support for crude shipping costs. As the government presses its all-out campaign to hold down fuel prices, refiners are growing more anxious. The industry estimates it has already absorbed some 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion) in losses under the price ceiling on petroleum products.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded at around $102 a barrel on the 14th, industry sources said on the 15th. That is up about 20% from $81 to $82 a month earlier on Aug. 14.
Instability in the Middle East has been the main driver of the rally. Concerns over supply disruptions intensified after a key pipeline carrying crude from oil fields in eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port of Yanbu was struck on Sept. 10. The pipeline has served as an alternative route allowing crude to reach the Red Sea without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. A prolonged shutdown could disrupt supplies of Middle Eastern crude, and that concern is seen as having pushed prices higher.
President Lee Jae-myung said on social media on the 13th that prices for refined fuels such as gasoline and diesel would remain stable. Crude and international refined product prices are surging, he said, but domestic refined fuels are holding steady in both price and supply volume without difficulty, thanks to the price ceiling and controls on export volumes.
With the president himself stepping in, the government is moving quickly. It is first reviewing an expansion of shipping cost support for refiners. The government currently covers 25% of the difference in freight costs incurred when refiners secure alternative crude supplies. Raising that share to 100% is under active consideration.
The price ceiling is also likely to be extended. The government introduced the measure on March 13. Under the scheme, refiners must keep prices below a government-set upper limit even when international crude prices rise, and the government compensates them for the resulting losses.
The government initially allocated about 4.2 trillion won ($3 billion) on the assumption the program would run for six months. Some observers had expected the ceiling to expire this month, given that the budget was drawn up for a six-month period. But the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has said it would be difficult to end the program given current conditions in the Middle East.
Refiners, meanwhile, face deepening strain. With a gap opening between Singapore spot market prices, or MOPS, the benchmark for petroleum product trading in Asia, and the domestic price ceiling, cumulative industry losses are estimated to have already reached about 5 trillion won.
Even so, the government and refiners remain at odds over the scope of loss compensation and the criteria for calculating costs, and not even a first settlement has been completed. An industry official said it is true that the longer the price ceiling stays in place, the heavier the burden on the industry becomes, adding that if the program cannot be ended, discussions on compensation should at least move forward quickly.
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Original reporting by
Lim Ji-hoon
for Seoul Economic Daily.
AI-translated from Korean. Quotes from foreign sources are based on Korean-language reports and may not reflect exact original wording.
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