Rising Oil Prices Halt
Falling international oil prices have driven domestic gasoline prices to a five-month low. However, because of the recent high oil prices, the rate of increase in energy consumption is a little lower than annual average economic growth. Still, vehicle drivers feel a burden from oil prices because the government has continuously imposed a transportation tax.
According to a survey on trends of domestic oil prices conducted by the Korean National Oil Corp., oil prices have dropped by an average of smokeless fuel 1,516.39 won per liter, down 16.06 won from the previous week. The institution examined 980 gas stations in the nation.
Oil prices have dropped from 1,509.49 won per liter during the third week of August. The survey revealed that as of the second week of this month, Daejeon had the highest gasoline prices in the nation at 1,546.64 won (7.52 drop from the previous week), Seoul followed with 1,538.55 won (23.18 won drop), Daegu with 1,525.39 won (6.17 won drop), and Busan with 1,523.85 won (11.78 won drop) and Ulsan with 1,523.46 won (17.42 won drop).
According to the ‘Energy Survey for 2005’ by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, the average annual increase of energy consumption from 2001 until 2004 marked 3.4%, a point lower compared to the 4.9% of annual economic growth. The ministry added that during the IMF crisis in 1998, energy consumption increased 2.9%, higher than the 1.4% of economic growth.
The survey also revealed that the use of LPG and electricity heavily increased, whereas consumption of gasoline and coal slightly increased, implying that Korea is moving to more environmentally friendly consumption.
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 09.19. 08:52
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