Trade Deal Spurs Record Flow of North Sea Oil to South Korea
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An unprecedented 24 million barrels of North Sea crude were exported to South Korea since December after a free trade agreement with the European Union opened the 16,500-mile (26,500-kilometer) arbitrage trade.
Twelve very large crude carriers have been booked to transport the oil to South Korea since mid-December, the most on record over a five-month period, according to tanker reports and ship-tracking data from IHS Inc. The FTA, which started in July 2011, gives refiners in the Asian nation about a $3 a barrel discount compared with supplies from other countries.