Oil traders are scrambling to secure leases to stockpile deeply discounted prompt crude, with the hope of selling them at higher prices later thanks to a market structure known as contango.
Demand on the storage facility located in the city of Yeosu, over 300 km south of Seoul, has surged since October 2014 as the market turned to contango, a market structure in which futures prices are higher than those of prompt month, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry statement noted the inventory is now fully leased, up from 88 percent in 201.