HD Hyundai Oilbank will pay a total of 50 billion won ($36 million) in "high-oil-price crisis relief funds" to its roughly 2,100 gas stations, the company said on the 14th.
The company said the payments are meant to ease the operating burden on gas stations caused by high oil prices and the government's price-cap program following the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war, and to help maintain a stable supply chain for petroleum products.
The support covers gas stations that have signed petroleum supply contracts with HD Hyundai Oilbank. The relief funds cover the period from March 13 to June 30, when stations were affected by the price cap. For that period, the company plans to retroactively pay 30 won per liter on sales volumes of all fuel types subject to the price cap, including regular gasoline, diesel and indoor kerosene.
Since the price cap was introduced, refiners have been unable to pass rising crude import costs on to sales prices, sharply squeezing their margins. The industry estimates that losses from the price cap at the country's four major refiners — HD Hyundai Oilbank, SK Innovation (096770.KS), S-Oil and GS Caltex — total 3 trillion won. Some have also raised concerns that a prolonged crisis in the Middle East could lead gas stations to cut their orders, in turn destabilizing the distribution network for petroleum products.
HD Hyundai Oilbank expects the support to improve the operational stability of gas stations amid volatile oil prices while helping maintain a stable supply and distribution network for petroleum products. The move is also intended to support supply-chain stability in line with the government's cooperation-focused policy stance and to bolster the company's external credibility.
An HD Hyundai Oilbank official said the company decided on the support "to practice the value of mutual growth with gas stations struggling under the recent surge in energy-market volatility and the price cap," adding that it "plans to continue actively cooperating with the government's oil-price stabilization policy and providing a stable energy supply, based on shared growth with gas stations."
