The four-month period from November to February normally sees an upturn in Northeast Asia heating oil imports, a boost for Asian oil refining. But recession-hit Japan and South Korea are likely to stave off imports this winter and many homes will even shift to cheaper heating alternatives, analysts said.
Most individuals have keen interest in more cost efficient alternatives.
Correspondingly, Korea's kerosene imports have also fallen by more than 50-percent from 9.2 million barrels in 1997 to 4.6 million barrels in 1998, over the same period. Even if it's cold, Koreans will just put on an additional sweater. More price sensitive consumers in Korea, amid the recession this year, have also turned on to piped natural gas, which was 25 per cent cheaper than kerosene, analysts said. They have to change their boilers from oil to gas as an entry cost. In Japan, kerosene stocks remain high and for the end of October, they stood at 5.29 million kilolitres, a build of 800,000 kilolitres from September, according to the Ministry of Trade and Information on Wednesday.