Korea, China, Japan to Discuss Mutual Stockpile of Petroleum

In order to effectively handle rising international oil prices, the government planned to cooperate with oil importers in the East Asian region, such as China, Japan and the Philippines, for stockpile of petroleum, the mutual lending of spare energy and other energy-related measures.

The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy, Lee Hee-bum, met with Korean correspondents while visiting Japan to attend a briefing session for boosting Japanese investment on June 8 and said, “Korea, China and Japan occupy 17 percent of energy demand worldwide, and now is the time to cooperate with each other as oil importers.” Lee will attend the meeting for energy ministers of the “ASEAN+3” nations in the Philippines on June 9.

“I will also discuss plans to address the ‘Asia Premium,’ the additional 1-2 dollars per barrel oil-producing nations in the Middle East region charge.”

He also added that he doesn’t have any intention to operate a “10-day rotation system” for vehicles since it has proved not as efficient in terms of administrative costs.

Regarding the outcome of attracting investment, the Commerce Minister replied, “Eight companies with a scale of $483 million, including the Japanese company Asahi Glass, who invested $240 million to build facilities in Kumi, North Gyeongsang province, have signed the investment agreement.”

Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com