South Korea maintaining strong energy trade with US
Reuters is reporting that US exports of oil and gas to South Korea will follow the same rapid trend of 2018.
These exports will reportedly narrow South Korea’s trade surplus with the US, in addition to strengthening the ties between the two countries.
Projections for January and February 2019 suggest that South Korea will import a minimum of 18 million barrels of crude oil and 900 000 t of LNG from the US. This will mark a four-fold increase in oil, and a slight decline in LNG imports from the same period in 2018.
This activity has been made possible by increased oil and gas output in the US, which has contributed to favourable market conditions. Furthermore, President Donald Trump has continued to advocate for a policy to reduce trade deficits, pushing for the US to sell more to its major trading partners than it buys.
Oil and LNG have been key commodities in this net export strategy.
In 2018, the US exported record quantities of LNG and crude oil to South Korea, filling a void left by tightening supplies from the Middle East region, as OPEC-led output cuts and the re-imposition of US sanctions on Iran came into effect.
SEOUL/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - South Korea’s purchases of U.S. oil and gas this year will hold to the rapid pace set in 2018, likely narrowing its trade surplus with the world’s top economy further and bolstering its ties to Washington.
South Korea is expected in January and February to import at least 18 million barrels of crude oil and 900,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, according to trade flow data from Refinitiv Eikon.
That’s a four-fold increase on oil from a year earlier and a slight drop on LNG, indicating the record U.S. crude and LNG volumes heading into South Korea in 2018 are set to continue, supported by favorable market conditions brought about by increasing oil and gas output in the United States.
The jump in South Korea’s U.S. oil and gas imports comes as U.S.President Donald Trump continues to push to reduce trade deficits with the United States’ major trading partners by selling more to them than it buys. U.S. oil and LNG exports are a key part of this strategy.
“At the moment, the trend (of importing U.S. crude) will stay ... The economics for U.S. crude is a little bit better than Middle East and North Sea oil,” said a South Korean refining source who declined to be named due to company policy.
Record U.S. crude oil and LNG volumes flowed into South Korea in 2018, while supplies from the Middle East were tightened amid OPEC-led output cuts and a re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran.
The United States was South Korea’s sixth-biggest crude supplier last year, its highest ranking ever as it overtook Iran and Russia. It also became South Korea’s third-largest LNG supplier, while South Korea was the top importer of U.S. LNG.
South Korea’s U.S. oil and gas imports more than quadrupled in value to $6.75 billion in 2018 from $1.5 billion in 2017, according to the country’s customs data.
The U.S. oil import value of $4.5 billion alone was more than six times the $725 million taken in U.S. oil in 2017.
“Buying more U.S. oil and gas was part of (Seoul’s) strategy as our wide trade surplus against the United States was grounds for revising the Korea-U.S. free trade deal,” said Je Hyun-jung, director at the Korea International Trade Association.
South Korea’s 2018 trade surplus with the United States at $13.86 billion was the lowest since 2011, down 22.4 percent from $17.86 billion a year earlier, the customs data showed.
In 2017, Trump threatened to renegotiate or scrap what he called a “horrible” bilateral trade deal that had doubled the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea since 2012.
The two countries agreed to revise the deal last year, with Seoul capping its steel exports to the United States to avoid hefty tariffs and giving greater market access to U.S. carmakers. The revision took effect on Jan. 1.
