Middle East oil producers eye S. Korean reserve bases amid Hormuz crisis

SEOUL - South Korea is drawing growing interest from Middle Eastern oil producers seeking to store crude oil at the country's petroleum reserve bases, the world's sixth largest, amid a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a South Korean official and an expert on the matter have said.

The blockade in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran has taken a toll not only on South Korea and other nations dependent on oil imports but also oil-producing countries whose storage tanks are filling up, with nowhere to ship, according to Yang Gi Uk, head of the Industry and Resource Security Office at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.