South Korea NEWS

LG Electronics said on Sunday it has acquired a domestic EV charging maker to advance into the EV charging solutions business amid a global electrification push. LG Electronics recently acquired a 60 percent stake in AppleMango for an unspecified amount, with GS Energy and GS Neotek taking over 34 percent and 6 percent stakes in the company, respectively, to secure a new growth engine, the company said in a statement. LG said it plans to establish an EV charging production line at the LG Digital Park in Pyeongtaek, some 60 km south of Seoul, within this year, reports Yonhap news agency.

High levels of inflation have now become a new reality across the globe. The latest data by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows, that inflation in the 38 member states hit a 31-year high in January, at 7.2 percent.

South Korea shipyard says this is the first time it has won offshore orders for two years in a row since 2014

Starting next month, the government will release over three million barrels of crude from its oil reserve in phases to help stabilize oil prices. The government announced the move on Thursday, saying that it made the decision after consultation with local refiners. Just a month ago, the government agreed to participate in the joint release of oil reserves in response to a request from the United States. Under the move, the government will release three-point-17 million barrels of oil, which is three-point-three percent of its emergency oil stockpile of 97 million barrels. The government said the remaining stockpile would be enough to deal with any sudden changes and crisis in the oil supply, as it could sustain for about 103 days.

Qatar has signed a deal worth around $20 billion with South Korean shipbuilders to help cement its position as the world’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas. The Gulf emirate entered into agreements with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. The three Korea-based firms will reserve a “major portion” of their LNG ship-construction capacity for QP through 2027.

South Korean coast guard and the refiner S-Oil, yesterday, informed about containing a crude oil spill from the refiner's offshore buoy off the southeastern coast of the country. The leak which occurred early Wednesday was attributed to the buoy's broken pressure gauge, however, the leak source was later sealed, the Ulsan Coast Guard said in a statement. S-Oil is investigating the case, a spokesman for the company said.

The ongoing US-China trade has affected the international market. On Tuesday, the market had mixed response with not so strong South Korean data adding to the concern. Further OPEC's output increased for the first time after the announcement of supply cut by the cartel. WTI was down by 0.4% and was traded at $54.89 a barrel. Brent, on the other hand went up, at $58.71 a barrel.

In a regulatory filing yesterday, South Korean conglomerate, Hyundai Heavy informed about signing a $1.2 billion-agreement with oil giant, Saudi Aramco to sell a minority stake of Hyundai Oilbank. If sources were to be believed, Hyundai will use proceeds from the sale to fund its $2 billion acquisition of rival Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

Issuing a factual statement to Samsung Heavy Industries, Norway-based DNV GL has approved of the firm’s INTELLIMAN Ship software. In a ceremony organized in Daejeon, South Korea, DNV-GL confirmed the compliance of the software with the EU-MRV and IMO-DCS regulations. SHI’s INTELLIMAN Ship, which is an integrated smart ship solution, simplifies data management from fleet operation to life-cycle service, both onshore and onboard.

Concerns of a global economic slowdown weighed heavy in the international market as oil prices dropped on Tuesday. Benchmark Brent crude oil futures were traded 0.8% lower, at $62.26 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were dropped by 0.7%, priced at $53.44 per barrel. While China’s GDP rose by only 6.6%, South Korean economy growth rate lowered to 2.7% in 2018.

French engineering firm, GTT has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with South Korea’s Dongsung Finetec to commercialise its LNG Brick® technology. LNG Brick offers an economical and competitive solution with an LNG fuel tank capacity below 3000 cubic meter. Both the firms are looking forward to promote the technology for LNG as fuel applications. Dongsung will construct the solution, to be outfitted on a variety of commercial vessels.

Crude oil rates saw a rise today, amidst growing geopolitical tensions over the disappearance of journalist and Saudi-critic, Jamal Khashoggi. Brent crude gained 1.26%, and was traded at $81.44 a barrel. WTI crude futures edged up 1.12% priced at $72.14 a barrel. Reports of South Korea not importing a single barrel of oil from Iran in September also supported crude oil markets.

The first wave of US sanctions on Iran has started affecting global oil supply. Iran’s Petroleum Ministry confirmed that South Korea halted oil imports from the country. Xinhua News reported PR of the ministry stating “It is for three successive months that South Korea has not imported oil from Iran”. Before the US sanctions came into effect, the Asian country imported 180,000 barrels per day of Iran’s crude oil.

British EPC giant, TechnipFMC has won a contract to carry out the licensing, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up for Vietnam’s maiden olefins plant. The contract has been awarded by SCG-owned Long Son Petrochemicals Co. The plant will utilize TechnipFMC’s proprietary ethylene technology, to produce up to 1.6 million tons of olefin per year.

On Wednesday, one of South Korea's largest refiner, S-Oil, said that it is planning to spend more than $4.5 billion on a petrochemical project by 2023. The new facilities will be built in Ulsan where the company’s 669,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery is located. According to sources, S-Oil is conducting a feasibility study in order to expand its petrochemical business.

South Korea’s major shipbuilder, Samsung Heavy Industries Co., informed that it has successfully grabbed a deal worth $370 million. Reportedly, the company will be building 2 liquefied natural gas carriers for a European shipping company. The capacity of the carriers will be 180, 000 cubic meters and are set to be delivered to Celsius Tankers by December 2020. So far this year, the company has received orders for building 31 vessels.

If sources were to be believed, US crude oil import to South Korea will hit record high volumes in September and October. Refiners in South Korea are looking forward to replacing supplies from the Middle East. Sources said that South Korea’s top refiners SK Energy and GS Caltex each purchased 2 million barrels of US crude for October.

According to a Reuters report, the South Korean power company, KOMIPO is looking for the delivery of LNG cargo between November 16 and 21 through a tender whose end date is July 24. In another report of Reuters, it was mentioned that the LNG imports of South Korea which climbed up significantly in the first half of the year due to the demand from power firms are likely to set at ease.