[Courtesy of Korea National Oil Corporation]
The first shipment of shale oil from the US mainland has arrived in South Korea for the first time since Washington lifted a ban on exports of crude oil in December last year, a refiner said Monday.
GS Caltex said a tanker carrying one million barrels of shale oil from Eagle Ford, Texas, arrived at Yeosu, a port city some 320 kilometers (198 miles) South of Seoul, on Sunday.
The refiner said US shale oil was imported "thanks to the low price of West Texas Intermediate oil, a decrease in the global oil transportation fee, and a cut in accessorial charge". GS Caltex plans to import additional one million barrels next month.
Previously, the South Korean company had imported 800,000 barrels of Alaskan North Slope crude oil and natural gas condensate from the US mainland in 2014, but this is the first time to bring in shale oil.
Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by using different methods such as hydrogenation and thermal dissolution. Many countries have developed unconventional oil refining techniques due to the scarcity of conventional oil resources.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
