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Market Chatter: South Korea to Export 90,000 MT of Diesel to Europe via Trafigura

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South Korea will dispatch a cargo of its diesel to Western Europe, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, describing it as a rare and unusually-long trip for the fuel that reveals the lengths Europe is going to, to reinforce energy security ahead of winter after the US-Iran war disrupted conventional trade flows.

The cargo of 90,000 metric tons will be loaded onto the newly-built Priamos tanker and set sail for either the UK or Rotterdam under the oversight of commodities trader Trafigura, based on shipping fixtures Bloomberg has seen.

Europe is heavily-reliant on imported diesel due to limited refining capacity but it has facing growing global competition for the fuel with both the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the more recent US-Iran war restricting supply. South Korea usually serves importers in its own Asia-Pacific neighborhood.

The article said that much lower diesel prices made it easier to justify the cost of the long journey the cargo would make. It noted that China was poised to raise its exports of fuel after imposing restrictions earlier in the Middle East conflict that threw energy markets into disarray from March.

Trafigura declined Bloomberg's request for comment.has reached out to Trafigura seeking comment.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

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