South Korea's consumption of fuel and other petroleum products dropped 7.6 percent in May from a year earlier due to high global oil prices, the government said Wednesday.

   The country's total consumption of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel and kerosene, amounted to 60.27 million barrels, according to a report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

   The figure, however, marks a 5.3 percent hike from 57.24 million barrels used a month earlier. An increase in consumption of petroleum and related products usually means increased production by local manufacturers.

   "The monthly increase appears to have been caused mainly by an increase in consumption by the transportation sector due to a reduction of oil prices by local refineries since April 7 and high global oil prices," the ministry said.

   The temporary reduction of prices by local refineries ends next week.

   South Korea's imports of petroleum products dropped 5.3 percent in May from the same period last year, but the amount of money paid to purchase the products soared 30.5 percent, partly reflecting a steep rise in global oil prices since last year, the ministry said.

   The country's exports of petroleum products jumped 25 percent on-year to over 39 million barrels last month with export-generated revenues soaring 77.6 percent to US$4.78 billion, it added.

Source: Yonhap News (June 29, 2011)