Holly Herrera
South Korea charges its four domestic oil refiners with colluding on fuel prices during the brief war between the United States, Israel and Iran earlier this year, prosecutors say, in a case tied to an estimated $17 billion in economic harm.
At a Glance
- All four South Korean refiners face collusion charges: SK Energy, HD Hyundai Oilbank, GS Caltex and S Oil
- Prosecutors say the alleged harm totals $17 billion
- Four individual employees were also charged
- South Korea imported roughly 70 percent of its crude from the Middle East
- Seoul capped fuel prices for the first time in three decades during the conflict
What Prosecutors Say Happened
According to a briefing from the lead prosecutor, two of the refiners coordinated on when and how much to raise fuel prices once fighting broke out between the United States, Israel and Iran at the end of February. Yonhap News identified those two companies as SK Energy and HD Hyundai Oilbank, though Reuters noted that South Korean authorities did not officially name the firms involved.
The prosecutor described a pattern that predates the war itself, saying one of the charged employees had swapped pricing details with counterparts at rival firms for several years beforehand. That detail suggests the coordination was not a one time reaction to the conflict but a longer running practice that surfaced once oil markets grew volatile.
Pressure on Gas Station Owners
Investigators allege the refiners went beyond simply raising their own prices. They reportedly leaned on independent fuel station operators through contract terms that Reuters described as unfair, pushing those retailers to match the planned price increases at the pump. That would have widened the impact well past the refiners' own sales, touching everyday drivers directly.
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