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 strait’s closure in the wake of the US-Israel war 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 Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s Industry and Resource Security Office.

“Several countries have approached South Korea with inquiries and requests for consultations” about whether they can store crude oil at South Korean oil reserve bases, Yang told reporters last month, though he declined to name them.

For such countries as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, “crude oil exports account for a massive share of their economies, and they have concluded that they can significantly reduce risks by storing oil outside the Strait of Hormuz to sell at a later time”.

The proposed moves by several Gulf countries come as their oil storage facilities approach maximum capacity for lack of export outlets since the Strait of Hormuz was closed after the start of hostilities in late February.

South Korea’s oil reserve bases, with a combined capacity of 146 million barrels, were built after the oil crises in 1973 and 1979 hit the country’s economy, according to the state-owned Korea National Oil Corporation.