Korea’s energy demand predicted to dip 1.4 pct this year

    South Korea’s energy demand is expected to drop for a second year in 2020 due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, a report said Wednesday.

    The country’s annual energy consumption is likely to contract 1.4 percent on-year this year, according to the report from the Korea Energy Economics Institute.

    Last year, overall energy consumption in Asia’s fourth-largest economy fell 1.3 percent on-year to 303.5 million tons of oil equivalent (TOE), the first decline since the country’s foreign exchange crisis some two decades earlier.

    South Korea’s energy consumption had earlier been projected to bounce back this year, bolstered by a rise in the country’s economic growth and other positive factors.

    According to the report, the country’s demand for coal and oil is predicted to shrink 7.7 percent and 1 percent, respectively, in 2020 from a year earlier, respectively.

    Government efforts to reduce electricity generation from coal-fired power plants are expected to sap demand for anthracite and bituminous coal.

    In contrast, consumption of nuclear energy and natural gas is forecast to increase 12.2 percent and 1 percent, respectively.