Prospects of petroleum product trades by ROK/Taiwan/Singapore: tougher environmental standards and changes in product imports/exports

From April, Japan repealed the Provisional Law on Importation of Specified Petroleum Products (PLISPP) and thus freed imports further. Since the dawn of the 1990s, Asia has suffered soaring oil demand and lack of refining capacity. Besides intra-region trade, product imports from outside the region, like the US West Coast and the Mediterranean Sea, have expanded. Given such conditions in Asia, as well as Japan's stringent product specifications for environmental reasons, potential exporters of the three specified products (gasoline, kerosene and diesel) in Asia should virtually be limited to the three of the Republic of Korea (the ROK), Taiwan and Singapore. This study is designed to make an in-depth examination of the present and the future of oil supply/demand and product trade of the three countries. (author)