Korea Oil Imports Fall as Economic Outlook Worsens

By Shinhye Kang

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea imported less crude oil for a third month in November as fuel demand fell amid worsening outlook for Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Imports dropped to 73 million barrels last month from 78.1 million a year earlier, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in an e-mailed statement today. The country's crude oil import bill dropped 21 percent to $5.1 billion.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last week cut its 2009 economic- growth forecast for South Korea to 1.8 percent from 3.1 percent previously, citing faltering local and overseas demand. Macquarie Securities Ltd. forecasts the economy will contract 2 percent next year and UBS AG said it will shrink 3 percent.

``Falling global oil prices are failing to revive South Korea's oil demand,'' said Ahn Sang Hee, an analyst at Daishin Securities Co. ``Winter is coming but demand for fuel will be sluggish for a while.''

Oil prices in New York have dropped 64 percent from a record $147.27 a barrel reached on July 11 on concerns that a global economic slowdown and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression cut fuel demand. The cost of importing a barrel of crude declined 15.4 percent to $70.1 in November, the ministry said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shinhye Kang in Seoul at skang24@bloomberg.net