The refinery and petrochemical industry in the United States has been embarrassed by the news that the United States is not expected to extend a temporary exception to the eight countries, including South Korea, related to Iranian crude oil sanctions.

Especially, it is expected that short-term shocks will be inevitable if imports of super-light oil (condensate) from Iran, which are highly dependent on imports from domestic companies, become difficult and productivity and profitability deteriorate.

However, the company has been steadily implementing diversification of imports in preparation for the ban on imports from Iran, so it is unlikely that problems will arise in the supply and demand of crude oil or in the operation of factories.

According to the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, the share of imported crude oil as of February is 8.6%.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United States and Iraq.

Among them, naphtha, which is the basic fuel for petrochemical products, is higher than other kinds of petroleum products.

Super light oil is lighter than conventional crude oil and is optimized for petrochemical companies.

When compared to other regions, the price of Iranian light oil is as low as $ 2 or $ 3 or as much as $ 6 per barrel.

In Korea, four companies import Hyundai Oilbank, SK Incheon Petrochemical, SK Energy and Hanhwa Total.

Three importers of Iranian light crude are SK Incheon Petrochemical, Hyundai Chemical, and Hanhwa Total.

A source from the refinery industry said, "The supply of crude oil is one less, so the power of the consumer is inevitably weak."

An official of the petrochemical industry said, "If we can not import cheap and high quality Iranian light oil, we think that our products will be less competitive in price." "We are watching the situation carefully."

"The Iranian mountain has played a role in capturing the international price," another official of the petrochemical industry said. "If the price of crude oil rises, it will be burdensome for domestic companies to purchase raw materials."

As news came that the United States would ban imports of Iranian crude oil, international oil prices skyrocketed at one point.

In New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) on the morning of May 22, the price of West Texas crude oil (WTI) and Brent crude oil for May delivery reached a peak in six months, according to Bloomberg.

However, the observation that the measure will not be followed by the Iranian oil crisis is predominant.

This is because the industry has diversified imports with the possibility of prohibiting the import of Iranian crude oil.

Last year, imports of Iranian crude oil from domestic companies did not take place during the period from September to December until the US announced exception recognition for eight countries including Korea.

"We have already created countermeasures because this is not the first time," an industry official said. "There will be no serious problems in operating the plant."

Another industry official said, "Even if imports from Iran are difficult, there are alternative markets such as Qatar," he said.

Byung-ki Moon, a senior researcher at the Korea International Trade Association, said, "In the past, there have been sanctions against Iran, and there is also time to prepare for countermeasures such as diversification of importing countries. "The oil price is not affected by rising oil prices.

The government also evaluated that it was not enough to hurt domestic companies.

An official from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said, "We have been discussing countermeasures closely with the industry from the past in preparation for the possibility of discontinuing the supply of ultra-light oil from Iran." In the mid to long term, "He said.

"There are three problems with the petrochemical industry, which are related to the super-light crude oil in Iran, and they have problems such as rising costs and falling yields. However, they are not enough to call for supply and demand instability throughout the industry, Instead, I think we will consider importing naphtha. "

If you do not have enough condensed matter to get paraxylene (PX), which is used as an intermediate raw material for synthetic fibers, you will skip that step and find a way to secure naphtha as a by-product of crude oil.