Melting Arctic ice is widening a path for ships to deliver European oil to Asia, stoking South Korea's ambition to become a regional storage and trading hub.
The country, whose proximity to China, Russia and Japan makes it an ideal conduit for oil arriving via the Arctic, plans to add tanks for storing almost 60 million barrels of crude and refined products by 2020, about the same as Singapore's current capacity. The nation also seeks to leverage its energy infrastructure, which includes five refineries, to become Northeast Asia's oil hub, said Kim Jun-dong, the deputy minister of energy and resources policy.
Global temperatures are rising, breaking up polar ice and opening the Northern Sea Route to tanker traffic for a longer period each year than from July to October. It's forecast to be ice-free for six months by 2020, boosting South Korea's appeal as the destination for European cargoes that traders could potentially ship again to other Asian countries.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.