Hyundai Oilbank Company, a South Korean refiner, has bought its first Iranian condensate cargoes to prepare for trial runs at a new refining unit in its joint venture with Lotte Chemical, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
Condensate, an ultra-light form of oil, is mainly used to produce chemical feedstock naphtha. Hyundai's plant is one of several to come on stream across Asia and the Middle East, boosting demand for condensate, Reuters reported.
Hyundai bought two cargoes of about 1.1 million barrels loading in June and August ahead of the startup of its new splitter, the sources said. The first cargo arrived last month and the second cargo is expected to arrive in early September along with 1 million barrels of Qatari condensate, they said.
Hyundai Oilbank's joint venture with Lotte Chemical, known as Hyundai Chemical, is expected to start trial runs of the new 130,000 barrels-per-day splitter in Daesan on the country's west coast in August-September and to start commercial production in the fourth quarter, a company's spokesman said.
The spokesman, however, declined to comment on the company's condensate purchases.
Once the splitter starts up, Hyundai Chemical plans to buy about 4 million barrels of condensate per month from Iran, Qatar and Australia, one of the sources said.
Hyundai Chemical is still in talks with the National Iranian Oil Company for long-term condensate supplies, the sources said.
