Oil companies in New Zealand suffer from poor profitability

South Korea’s consumption of petroleum products has returned to the level seen before the on-going global financial crisis. Government-led pump-priming measures, including public fiscal spending, appear to be the biggest cause for the rebound, a report said. A total of 3.92 billion barrels were used in the first six months, up 1% from a year earlier, according to Korea National Oil Corp. With reduced cargo truck operations, overall oil consumption dropped by 2.3% in the transportation sector. “The Korean economy is recovering faster than expected. Petroleum accounted for 43% of South Korea’s consumption last year, up 2.6 percentage points from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average, according to Hyundai Economic Research Institute. (September 2, 2009)