Shale Boom Redraws Oil Routes as Alaskans Ship to Korea: Energy

For signs of how the U.S. shale boom is transforming the global flow of oil, look halfway across the world at South Korea.

The Asian nation, which relies on the Middle East for about 86 percent of its oil imports, is benefiting as new output from Texas to North Dakota displaces the crudes that fed U.S. refineries for decades. South Korea received this month a shipment of Alaskan oil for the first time in at least eight years and may buy more, the importing company said. The country was one of the first to receive a cargo of the ultralight U.S. oil known as condensate after export rules were eased.