SEOUL: South Korea will send five Korean-flagged ships to the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port of Yanbu to help establish alternative oil supply routes to avoid the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, a ruling MP said on Monday (Apr 6).
Oil prices have surged amid the United States-Israeli war on Iran, raising growth and inflation risks for South Korea, which relies on Middle Eastern crude for around 70 per cent of its imports.
Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global crude oil and gas, in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.
The situation has prompted Seoul to prepare emergency measures, including a fuel price cap – the first such step since 1997.
“Korean-flagged vessels need to be dispatched to alternative routes” to secure crude supplies using export routes that bypass the strait, lawmaker Ahn Do-geol told reporters after a meeting with relevant agencies, including the energy ministry.
“We are pushing to deploy five South Korean-flagged vessels to Yanbu port in Saudi Arabia, in the Red Sea region,” he said, without giving details.
He said special envoys would also be sent to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Algeria to help secure additional crude supplies.
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