AN oil tanker has transited the Red Sea for the first time since the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Import-dependent South Korea has taken steps to mitigate the risks to its energy supplies since US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February prompted Teheran to shut off access to the strait, now under a US blockade.
Seoul has sought new sources of oil and said this month that it would send five Korean-flagged ships to the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port of Yanbu to establish alternative routes.
The Ocean Ministry said it is the “first case of crude oil being transported into the country via the Red Sea, a detour, since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz”.
Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to the president, said on Wednesday that South Korea had secured supplies of more than 270 million barrels of crude oil via routes unaffected by the Hormuz crisis through the end of the year.
This is about three months of South Korea’s oil needs, said Kang, who recently returned from a trip to Kazakhstan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in a bid to secure alternative fuel sources. — AFP
