South Korean exports of spot gas oil in November are expected to fall by about a third from October, dented by top local refiner SK Corp slashing exports to more normal levels after unusually high volumes, a Reuters survey showed.

South Korea’s five refiners are expected to export a combined 475,000 tonnes of spot gas oil next month, compared with about 720,000 tonnes in October, traders and company sources said.
SK Corp, which has Asia’s single-largest refinery, would sell abroad 200,000 tonnes in November, sharply down from 480,000 tonnes in October, said a company source.
“Exports in the previous month (October) were abnormally high, in fact,” said the source. “November’s plan may look smaller, but it is actually returning to normal level,” he added.
He said October exports were unusually high after the company sold more exports than planned, even drawing on its gas oil stocks, in order to take advantage of fat margins of the product.
SK had already sold two 40,000-tonne spot cargoes for November exports to China and Hong Kong at discounts of $0.50 per tonne to benchmark Singapore spot quotes, traders said.
Most other refiners were likely to keep their November exports steady from October levels.
The second-ranked LG-Caltex Oil Corp, S-Oil Corp and Hyundai Oilbank Corp were expected to export 80,000 tonnes each next month, unchanged from October, said traders and sources at the refiners.
An S-Oil source said one or two of its medium-sized cargoes for October exports had headed for the US West Coast, adding that the refiner was also looking to sell November cargoes for arbitrage purposes.
Meanwhile, the smallest Inchon Oil Refinery Co Ltd was offering one 35,000-tonne cargo for November exports.