Europe imports diesel fuel from South Korea

Around 90,000 tonnes of South Korean diesel are expected to travel more than 19,000 km to north-west Europe, illustrating how tight the continent’s fuel market has become. The unusual trade comes as European diesel margins reach record levels, inventories around the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub fall to a four-year low and disruption to Russian and Middle Eastern supplies forces buyers to look increasingly far afield.

Europe’s underlying dependence on imported diesel has become more pronounced as refinery capacity has declined. In its Oil 2025 outlook, the IEA estimated that more than 370,000 barrels per day of European refining capacity disappeared during 2025 alone.

Europe is therefore increasingly reliant on the ability of the international market to replace lost domestic production. In normal conditions, that can be achieved relatively efficiently. The current combination of lower Russian exports, disruption in the Middle East and tighter Asian availability is showing what happens when several major supply channels come under pressure at the same time.

Fuel costs are already feeding into freight rates. The latest European Road Freight Rate Benchmark published by IRU, Ti and Upply put average EU diesel at €1.94 per litre in the second quarter of 2026, 12% higher than in the previous quarter and 27% above the level a year earlier.

The arrival of diesel from South Korea does not mean Europe is about to run out of fuel, and there is currently no evidence of widespread shortages at filling stations.

Source: trans.info