South Korea lost a major portion of its primary crude/condensate supply following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz at the beginning of March, with over 60% of pre-war average (Jan 2025 – Feb 2026) imports transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the large majority from Saudi Arabia. Robust reshuffling has allowed South Korea’s crude imports to climb back above seasonal norms as of July 2 however. Saudi Arabia’s rerouting via the East-West pipeline to Yanbu has partially offset the shock, though total imports from South Korea’s historical main supplier remain short of pre-war norms. Yanbu seaborne crude liftings climbed to 4.2mbd in Q2 2026, more than triple y-o-y, with South Korea and China the joint-largest recipients of exports at ~830kbd each (>20% of Q2 Yanbu crude exports).
Despite Yanbu rerouting, imports from Saudi Arabia remain 290kbd lower in June vs pre-war averages. As a result, suppliers with little or no history of serving South Korea have stepped in to partially fill the gap, specifically the UAE and US.
On the storage front, South Korea has drawn down less aggressively than its Asian counterparts. Japan leaned heavily on onshore crude inventories and SPR releases (read more here) to offset lower imports, dipping to record seasonal lows below 225mb in mid-June; South Korea’s onshore crude inventories, by contrast, stood less than 1% below seasonal norms at the same point. While Seoul also announced the release of SPR barrels – 22.5mb from its underground Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in mid-March (S&P Global) – the overall drawdown in crude inventories has still been far more modest than in Japan. With lower storage capacity and a thinner buffer against supply shocks, South Korea needed to keep drawdowns capped. South Korea’s refined product exports increased m-o-m for a second consecutive month in June and returned to the 10-year seasonal range for the first time since March. They remained around 250kbd below the 2mbd pre-war average in June however. This follows Seoul capping gasoline, diesel and kerosene exports at 2025 levels from mid-March, then imposing a full five-month naphtha export ban from March 27. These limitations could be removed in the coming weeks with cracker run rates and feedstock supply now normalising – recovery is evident in diesel/gasoil exports in June, which were less than 20kbd short of 2025’s levels and well above seasonal norms.
South Korea’s crude supply outlook has improved materially, with imports back above seasonal norms as alternative supply routes and suppliers offset much of the loss from the Strait of Hormuz. Assuming elevated Yanbu exports continue and refined product export restrictions are lifted as expected, both crude imports and refined product exports should continue normalising over the coming months.