Korean oil refiners plan upgrades

..Upgrades will raise the capacity of South Korean refineries to process heavy oils into cleaner fuels by 56 percent to 335,000 barrels a day in 2008, Chyun Sang Ho, an executive vice president of GS Caltex, told the Korean Oil and Gas conference Monday.

..Sour crude sells for lower prices than low-sulfur, or sweet crude, because it is more expensive to refine into high-value products and yields less light fuel such as gasoline. Oil fields producing sweet crude, including those in Texas and the North Sea, are peaking or have peaked, the International Monetary Fund said in April. Replacement fields are generally smaller, harder to access and produce heavier crude, it said.

The investments would meet domestic demand and maintain South Korea’s role as an exporter of petroleum products to countries including China and Japan, said Myung, who estimated that energy consumption in Asia would double in the next 20 years.

International Herald Tribune