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OPEC Plus, which added Russia and other major oil producing countries to OPEC members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has decided to reduce oil production by 2 million barrels per day starting next month.

International oil prices turned to rise all at once on the news of a 2% reduction in global oil demand per day.

The US, which has demanded an increase in production to catch oil prices, strongly criticized it as a short-sighted decision, and the red light came on again in Korea, where the uptrend had stalled.



This is reporter Jeong Hye-jin's report.



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A gas station in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul.



Gasoline dropped to 1,500 won per liter.



Drivers have been resting for an hour over the price of oil that has come down after peaking in June, but the anxiety that it will rise again does not go away.



[Kim Dae-geun / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: It seems to have fallen a bit compared to the 2,000 won.

Now, there are rumors that it will rise again from November.] When it was



said that major oil producing countries would cut production, international oil prices have already turned to an upward trend.



The price of Dubai oil, which Korea mainly imports, has soared by 8.3% recently, but OPEC Plus's decision to cut production has not been reflected yet.



[Cho Sang-beom/Director of External Relations, Korea Petroleum Association: The domestic oil market is also a system in which international oil prices are reflected after 2-3 weeks, so it is highly likely that gasoline and diesel prices will also turn upward by the end of this month.]



Oil price rise is pushing higher prices even further.



Consumer price inflation has slowed for the past two months in a row as domestic oil prices have fallen.



However, starting this month, if electricity and city gas rates rise sharply, and even oil prices rise, inflation can reach the 6% level again, and the unit price of power generation also rises, causing an additional increase in electricity rates.



Last month, imports of the three major energy sources, including crude oil, increased by 81.2% compared to the previous year, and it is expected to increase further in winter.



As imports increase, the trade deficit also increases.



[Lee Chang-yang / Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy: Until the third quarter, imports of the three major energy sources, oil, gas, and coal, increased by more than $67 billion in value.

As a result, the trade deficit has accumulated, posing a very serious threat to our economy, which relies on imports for 93% of its energy



. He said that there was no change in the forecast that the rate would decline gradually.



(Video coverage: Tae-Hoon Kim, video editing: Woo-Jeong Woo, VJ: Sang-Hyeok Kim)