Korean refiners lift runs to 3-year high on record exports

Refiners in South Korea raised their operating rates to a three-year high in 2022 as petroleum product exports hit a record high in value.

Refinery runs of SK Energy Co., GS Caltex Corp., S-Oil Corp. and Hyundai Oilbank Co. averaged at 79.4% last year, the highest since 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19, the Korea Petroleum Association said on Sunday. Their utilization rate was 74.4% in 2021.

SK Energy is wholly owned by South Korea’s top refiner SK Innovation Co., and GS Caltex is a joint venture between the country’s GS Energy Corp. and US Chevron Corp. S-Oil is Saudi Aramco’s refining unit in South Korea.

Employees at those local refiners are expected to receive hefty bonuses after their companies enjoyed record earnings last year amid higher oil prices and decent refining margins.

RECORD EXPORTS

Those refiners’ exports of petroleum products surged 71.2% to an all-time high of $57 billion in 2022 from the previous year as the ongoing war in Ukraine raised global oil prices and disrupted refined product supplies worldwide, according to the local business group.

Such exports, which recouped about 60% of South Korea’s crude oil imports of $95.4 billion last year, helped cut a trade deficit, the group said.

Refiners in the country import crude oil to make petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel as well as naphtha, and sell them at home and abroad.

The industry has been recovering more than half of crude oil bills through exports since 2012.

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at kkm1026@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.