Korea eases oil and gas alerts as Iran cease-fire talks calm supply fears

Seoul will lower its domestic crude oil resource security status from "alert" to "caution" after concerns over supply disruptions eased as Washington and Tehran began cease-fire negotiations, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

It will also lift the natural gas resource security alert, which had been at the "caution" level. The adjustments will be effective from Wednesday. 

Korea manages resource security in a four-tier system in descending order of severity: serious, alert, caution and attention.

The announced measure will alleviate car-use restrictions in the public sector. The mandatory two-day rotation system — colloquially known as an "odd-even system" — will revert to a five-day rotation. The five-day restriction on public parking lot use will be lifted.

The five-day system prohibits vehicles from operating based on the last digit of their license plates. For instance, vehicles with plate numbers ending in 1 or 6 are barred from the roads on Mondays, while those ending in 2 or 7 are restricted on Tuesdays.

The government imposed a five-day vehicle rotation system on public sector employees on March 25 after the energy crisis triggered by the Iran war. The measure was tightened to a two-day rotation on April 8, when the five-day restriction on public parking lots also took effect.

The four-tier system is enacted based on the Special Act on National Resource Security. State authorities consider the severity of the crisis and its potential impact on public livelihood and the national economy in determining the alert level.

The government initially issued an "attention" alert for crude oil and natural gas on March 5, as uncertainty over energy supplies grew following the Iran war, which began in late February. It raised the crude oil status to "caution" on March 18, then lifted it to "alert" on April 2. The natural gas status was raised from "attention" to “caution” on the same day.

The government on Tuesday also confirmed that six of seven oil tankers stranded near the Strait of Hormuz are now heading to Korea. 

BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]