Overview

• South Korea relies on imports to meet nearly all of its fossil fuel consumption because of insufficient domestic resources.1

• South Korea ranks among the world’s top five importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), coal, and total petroleum liquids.2 South Korea has no international oil or natural gas pipelines and relies exclusively on tanker shipments of LNG and crude oil.

• South Korea was the world’s ninth-largest energy consumer in 2019.3 Exports, most notably those of electronics, semiconductors, and petrochemicals, primarily to regional trading partners in Asia, fuel the country’s economic growth. Real gross domestic product (GDP) slowed during the past two years from 3.1% in 2017 to 2.0% in 2019, the lowest GDP growth in a decade, as a result of weaker demand for the country’s exports, the slowdown in neighboring China’s economic growth, trade disputes with Japan, and weaker construction investment.4 The country’s aging population is expected to dampen domestic energy demand and the overall economic landscape over the long term.5 An economic slowdown caused overall energy consumption in South Korea to decline from 2018 to 2019.6 Economic effects from the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have adversely affected South Korea’s industrial activity and exports in the first half of 2020 and are projected to push 2020 GDP growth lower than the 2019 level.7

• Although petroleum and other liquids, including derivatives of coal and natural gas, accounted for the largest portion (43%) of South Korea’s primary energy consumption in 2019, its share has been declining since the mid-1990s. The steady increase in natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy consumption has reduced oil use in the power sector and the industrial sector (Figure 2). In 2019, the share of nuclear energy consumption rose, while the share of coal consumption fell compared with 2018 levels. Nuclear reactors are beginning to return from extensive maintenance, and the government is restricting some coal-fired generation during winter months to lower air emissions.8

Petroleum and other liquids

Exploration and production

• South Korea has a small amount of domestic oil reserves, but the country relies almost entirely on crude oil imports to meet its demand. Nearly all of South Korea’s total petroleum and other liquids production of 119,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2019 was from refinery processing gains, non-conventional liquids, and biofuels production.

• Through acquisitions of overseas companies and investments with major international and national oil companies, the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) produced 125,000 b/d of oil and about 124 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2019 in its overseas operations.9 As of March 2020, KNOC had invested in 20 producing blocks and had seven fields under development or exploration in several countries.10

Consumption

• South Korea consumed 2.5 million barrels per day (b/d) of petroleum and other liquids in 2019, making it the eighth-largest consumer in the world (Figure 2). South Korea’s oil demand rose by about 260,000 b/d between 2014 and 2016 as a result of lower crude oil prices, new petrochemical facilities that required more liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and naphtha, and higher heavy-fuel oil consumption in the power sector that followed temporary nuclear-fired capacity shutdowns. South Korea’s oil consumption growth moderated significantly in 2017. Consumption declined through 2019 after crude oil prices rose, new coal-fired electricity capacity came online displacing some oil-fired generation, fine dust emissions regulations lowered fuel oil use in power plants, and petrochemical plants underwent extensive maintenance. Trade disputes and weaker demand from China negatively affected South Korea’s oil product exports in the latter half of 2018 and 2019.11

• The ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic may further erode South Korea’s demand for petroleum products, primarily jet fuel, gasoline, diesel, and naphtha, with the most acute demand destruction occurring during the first half of 2020. Crude oil imports declined nearly 8% on an annual basis during the first half of 2020.12 A weaker export sector as a result of lower global demand from South Korea’s trading partners will reduce the country’s economic and industrial growth through 2020. Other factors that are likely to drive down liquid fuel use during the next few years are fuel efficiency gains and greater use of alternative fuel vehicles in the transportation sector and fuel oil displacement in the power sector from new nuclear and coal-fired generation capacity.13

• By the mid-2020s, South Korea plans to commission several new petrochemical facilities that will likely boost the country’s naphtha and LPG demand in the next several years.14 Naphtha demand, accounting for nearly half of total petroleum product demand in 2019, is South Korea’s largest source of oil product demand. Naphtha use is likely to continue expanding in South Korea as a result of capacity additions at ethylene plants and the rising demand for plastics in Asia. South Korea also uses LPG (which accounted for 13% of the oil product demand in 2019) for its petrochemical industry, especially in propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants and olefin facilities.15

• South Korea is a net exporter of oil products. The country exported an estimated 1.4 million b/d of refined oil products in 2019, mostly in the form of middle distillates such as gasoil, gasoline, and jet fuel. Oil product imports, accounting for almost 1.0 million b/d in 2019, were primarily naphtha and LPG.16