South Korea has summoned SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil and HD Hyundai Oilbank to prepare emergency responses as the Middle East conflict spreads from the Strait of Hormuz into the Red Sea and pushes oil and refined-product prices higher. The government is considering increasing subsidies for crude freight-cost differences to encourage imports from the Americas, Africa and Southeast Asia, after the subsidy rate was reduced from 100% to 25%. Officials said more than 90% of South Korea’s year-earlier crude import volumes for September and October had already been secured, limiting the immediate supply impact. However, shipments could face delays after the Houthis seized Perim Island and the port of Mokha near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, while Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline stopped operating after drone strikes launched from Iraq. Spot Dubai crude rose from $80.80 a barrel on Aug. 7 to $123.70 on the 11th, while Singapore gasoline reached $147.90, up 26.8% from a month earlier, and naphtha increased 15.2%. Rerouting tankers from Yanbu through the Suez Canal instead of the Bab el-Mandeb adds about 30 days of sailing time, and repairs to the pipeline are expected to take considerable time. Saudi Arabia supplied $16.046 billion, or 31.3%, of South Korea’s crude imports during the first seven months of this year, remaining the country’s largest single supplier despite a slight decline in share. The government is also reviewing whether to extend the ninth oil price cap round, which expires on the 18th, after the measure introduced on March 13 surpassed its initial assumption of roughly six months. LNG prices, which track crude, could eventually raise electricity and heating costs even though Middle Eastern supply accounts for only a small share of South Korea’s LNG imports. Separately, the Korea Petroleum Quality & Distribution Authority plans to commission research on the 11th for an oil supply stability diagnostic index covering global prices, Middle Eastern official selling prices, tanker charter rates, supplier and shipping-route risks, government and private inventories, and jointly held international reserves.