According to Singapore oil news on April 22, 2021, as the official price of Middle East crude oil (OSP) continues to rise, local refiners in South Korea gradually turn to North American crude oil instead of Persian Gulf crude oil supply, and the sharp rise in the price difference between Brent crude oil and Dubai crude oil makes US crude oil supply more attractive to Asian buyers, In March, South Korea imported more than 10 million barrels of U.S. crude oil for the first time in nearly a year.

According to the latest statistics released by the General Administration of Customs of South Korea, South Korea imported 1.448 million tons or 10.61 million barrels of U.S. crude oil in March, an increase of 22.1% over February, which is the highest monthly import volume since 14.83 million barrels of U.S. crude oil were imported in April 2020.

However, compared with the same period last year, South Korea’s US crude oil imports fell by 19.9% in March, the 11th consecutive decline.

Novel coronavirus pneumonia is not a big source of oil in China, because of the continuing downturn in the demand for gasoline and diesel, especially aviation fuel in the Korean new pneumonia epidemic, and the purchase of a large number of crude oil rich in light and medium distillate oils (including WTI midland and eagle Ford crude). South Korea, Asia’s fourth largest oil consumer, has been slashing U.S. crude oil imports since the end of the second quarter of 2020.

Nevertheless, the 11 million barrels of U.S. crude oil that arrived in South Korea in March showed a shift in thinking about raw material procurement and arbitrage trading for major refineries in South Korea as Middle East crude oil looks expensive, said a market research analyst with the Korea Petroleum Association, However, the demand for middle distillates in China and Asia improved slowly with the relaxation of liquidity restrictions.

In the second and third quarters of this year, South Korea is expected to import at least three giant tankers or about 6 million barrels of US crude oil per month on average.