Overview
- Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik will travel as a special envoy to Kazakhstan, Oman and Saudi Arabia to secure additional crude oil and naphtha.
- Officials said shipments from the United Arab Emirates are arriving after Korea secured priority for 24 million barrels and lined up about 50 million barrels for April.
- Naphtha, a key feedstock for plastics and other petrochemicals, is now under export limits and allocation controls to keep priority sectors supplied.
- Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said a broad shutdown is unlikely and noted that natural gas inventories can cover demand through the end of the year.
- The government is working to ensure safe passage for 26 Korean‑flagged vessels near the Strait of Hormuz as it explores alternate shipping routes.