{"id":640582,"date":"2026-04-30T13:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640582\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T13:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:06:18","slug":"s-korea-and-australia-strengthen-energy-co-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640582\/","title":{"rendered":"S.Korea and Australia strengthen energy co-operation"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 30, 2026 21:13 | News<\/a><\/p>\n

South Korea and Australia have agreed to strengthen co-operation in the energy sector as the countries deal with fuel supply disruption from the Iran war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both countries decided to \u201cmaintain a stable, secure and reliable supply of diesel and other liquid fuels\u201d following a meeting in Seoul on Thursday between Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, her South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun, and Energy Minister Kim Jong-kwan.<\/p>\n

Wong\u2019s visit to Seoul is part of a three-country tour that also includes China and Japan, as Australia co-ordinates \u200bwith regional powers on energy security.<\/p>\n

Crude oil prices have soared since the US-Israeli began its attack on Iran on February 28, which resulted in Tehran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil flows.<\/p>\n

\"TankersSouth Korea is vulnerable to the Iran war as it imports 70 per cent of its oil from the Middle East. (EPA PHOTO)<\/p>\n

Australia and South Korea also agreed to notify and consult each other in the event of potential trade disruptions amid \u201cdeep concern\u201d about the impact of the situation in the Middle East on key sectors of raw materials, according to a joint statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe central pillar of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is a long and trusted economic and energy resource partnership, grounded in a shared commitment to open markets and rules-based trade, which underpins our prosperity and economic security,\u201d the countries said.<\/p>\n

Canberra is Seoul\u2019s main supplier of liquefied natural gas, as well as an important supplier of critical minerals, while South Korea provides Australia with refined petroleum products and diesel.<\/p>\n

South Korea was \u200ba key energy partner of Australia as the largest supplier of diesel and third-largest source of \u200bjet \u200bfuel, Wong said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe depend on you, and you depend on us,\u201d Wong said, in describing the need for close co-ordination and Australia\u2019s commitment as a reliable supplier \u200bof food, energy and other commodities to South Korea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PennyPenny Wong discussed global fuel security with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing. (AP PHOTO)<\/p>\n

South Korea is particularly vulnerable to the conflict in Iran, as it imports 70 per cent of its crude oil from the Middle East, with more than 95 per cent of these volumes passing through the Strait of Hormuz.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also obtains 20 per cent of its liquefied natural gas from the region.<\/p>\n

In Beijing on Wednesday, Wong said the Chinese government agreed to co-operate with \u200cAustralian businesses on jet fuel shipments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe this is an \u200cimportant step, but it is the first step,\u201d Wong told reporters in Beijing, adding that the aim of her trip was to press for Chinese co-operation \u201cin particular for the provision of liquid fuels\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Wong \u200bsaid she \u201cmade \u200cthe point that the imports China supplies to Australia, including jet fuel, support the Australian \u200bresources sector, which in turn helps to maintain the flow of commodities\u201d that are crucial to the bilateral trading ties.<\/p>\n

with Reuters<\/p>\n

\"AAP<\/a><\/p>\n

Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia\u2019s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.<\/p>\n

Latest stories from our writers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 30, 2026 21:13 | News South Korea and Australia have agreed to strengthen co-operation in the energy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-640582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}