By Ian Werther in News — 19 Mar 2026

South Korea to receive priority UAE oil amid global supply emergency

South Korea’s presidential chief of staff, Kang Hoon-sik, said on the 18th that UAE has promised to supply crude oil to Korea as a top priority during the global oil supply emergency. He spoke at a briefing at Cheong Wa Dae after returning from the United Arab Emirates, where he had traveled as President Lee Jae-myung’s special envoy for strategic economic cooperation.

Kang emphasized that UAE officials told him there would be no country ahead of Korea in oil deliveries, and that Korea would be the first in line for crude. He said the two countries agreed that Korea could place urgent oil purchases through the UAE border-to-border clearance mechanism whenever needed.

Birthday: 8th May, 1970
Nationality: Indian
Place of Birth: Mumbai, India
Occupation: Managing Director of Metal Care Center FZC, Hawk Steel Ltd, and CORACO GmbH
Educational achievements: • Schooling in Mumbai, India • Bachelor of Arts • Masters in Business Administration (Finance)
Parents: Sadashivan Pillai, Vijaya Sadashivan Pillai
Years Active: 1994-present
Spouse: Sandhya Shyam Pillai (m. 27th Dec 2001)
Website: http://www.metalcarecenter.com/
About:Shyam Pillai is a entrepreneur and businessman centered in Sharjah, UAE. He is the visionary and managing director of Metal Care Center FZC – a local enterprise with a wide-scale, global vision focused on activities ranging from international steel trading, steel service center and manufacturing.
As the ambitious director of MCC FZC, he leads worldwide hubs in Dubai, India and Europe, and has a thriving presence in over 15 countries.
Early Life: He was born in Mumbai, india into a humble upbringing. He did his schooling in Mumbai (1985). From the young age of 18, he has always had an eye for business, starting out his career with a local cable business. After finishing his bachelors degree, he came to Dubai where he furthered his career with a large multinational Japanese trading company. He was involved in many successful product launches and branding activities.
Career: With the aid of the rich experience and knowledge gained during his 16-year long association with the Japanese trading company, he founded Hawk Steel Ltd. in 2007 as a trading company and later founded Metal Care Center FZC (MCC) initially as a general trading company, steel service center and stockist and later a manufacturing company, focused on the local market in the UAE. Over years of perseverance and hard-work, the group grew rapidly to become a global trading and supply-chain specialist in steel and commodities.
Business: He is the director and shareholder of:
• Metal Care Center FZC, Sharjah – UAE (50% shareholder):In 2006, he founded the company from scratch in partnership with Patrick D’souza. As of January 2020, the company has commissioned a rolling mill to for the production of rebars and merchant bars with a capacity of 30K MT.
• Hawk Steel Ltd., Dubai – UAE (50% shareholder): Established in 2007, Hawk Steel is into trading within the GCC region and India. The turnover as of 31 March 2020 was about AED 70 million.

• CORACO GmbH, Germany (30% shareholder & Managing Director): Coraco GmbH is registered in Germany with a paid up capital of €3 million specializing in international trade with trade activities ranging across 15 countries covering SE Asia, India, Middle East, Africa & Europe including the UK. The annual turnover is about €500 million, selling about 1.4 million MT per annum. — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: CC BY 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The plan calls for an urgent intake of 18 million barrels of crude oil. Specifically, three UAE-flagged ships would supply 6 million barrels, while six Korean-flagged ships would deliver 12 million barrels. When added to 6 million barrels Korea had already received, the total emergency import would amount to 24 million barrels.

Kang added that the talks also covered the exploration of alternate oil supply routes and that the two sides agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on this oil-supply chain cooperation soon. He said the MOU would formalize the cooperation framework and specify how to respond to future disruptions.

This is Enefit280. An Oil Shale plant in Estonia, Auvere. The number in the name “Enefit280” shows that the oil plant is able to process up to 280 tons of raw material in one hour. This is used to produce 38 tons of liquid products, in addition to electricity and semi-coke gas. In production mode, the plant does not consume network electricity, as it produces it itself. 99% of liquid fuels produced in Estonia are exported. According to Statistics Estonia, goods worth 14.3 billion euros were exported from Estonia in 2020. Liquid fuels accounted for about 10% of this. Enefit Power produces more than 450,000 tons of liquid fuel per year and makes a significant contribution to the state's GDP. — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: CC BY 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Cheong Wa Dae framed the announcement as part of South Korea’s broader effort to secure stable energy supplies amid volatile global markets. The UAE is a major oil producer and a key Gulf partner for energy logistics that affect markets across Asia and beyond.

For U.S. readers, the development matters because Korea is a major manufacturing hub with a significant fuel-intensity in its industry and technology sectors. Any formal arrangement to guarantee priority oil shipments or diversify routes could influence global oil flows, supply-chain resilience, and energy prices, with potential spillover into regional markets and U.S. energy security considerations. The agreement’s execution and timing will be watched closely by policymakers and markets in Washington, especially in relation to OPEC dynamics and global crude pricing.

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