S. Korea completes world's biggest oil storage facility By Lee Joon-seung

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state-run oil company said Tuesday that it has completed construction of the world's single largest oil bunker as part of its efforts to transform the country into a Northeast Asian storage hub for the vital resource.

The facility located in Yeosu, 455 kilometers south of Seoul, can hold 49.7
million barrels of oil with the completion of the tunnel-type, underground
holding bunker, the Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) said. The total is enough to
meet the country's normal oil demand for 23 days.
At present the Geoje Island bunker on the south coast is the largest, with a
capacity of 47.5 million barrels, followed by the Tomakomai storage tanks in
Japan with 40.0 million barrels.
The government announced in August that concerted measures will be taken to turn
the country into regional "oil hub" that will mirror operations taking place on
Singapore's Julong Island.
Becoming an oil hub can also strengthen the country's ability to cope with
instability in international oil prices and emergency situations.
The KNOC said the new underground bunker -- which is 30 meters high, 18 meters
wide and 14 kilometers long -- can hold 19.0 million barrels of oil and will
augment an existing tunnel oil tank built in 1999 that can hold 30.7 million
barrels.
The oil company currently operates nine oil storage facilities that can hold
138.0 million barrels of oil. It is building two more bunkers that can increase
overall storage to 146.0 million barrels by late 2009.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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