Aramco's $35B Asset Sale and South Korea Storage Deal: Navigating the Strait of Hormuz Crisis

The world's largest oil exporter is pursuing its most ambitious financial restructuring in nearly a century — selling stakes in pipelines, power plants, and terminals — all while signing emergency crude storage agreements with a key Asian ally. These moves come as the Strait of Hormuz closure triggers a historic global oil supply shock .

Aramco's Multi-Billion-Dollar Infrastructure Asset Sale Program

Saudi Aramco is pushing ahead with a sweeping asset monetization strategy designed to raise up to $35 billion through the sale and leaseback of energy infrastructure, pipelines, and real estate assets . The program represents the most ambitious privatization plan in the company's 93-year history and predates the current crisis, though it has accelerated as Aramco seeks to shore up its balance sheet and fund Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 diversification agenda .

Key deals in progress:

$11 billion natural gas lease deal — In mid-2025, a BlackRock-led group (Global Infrastructure Partners) signed a lease agreement for natural gas infrastructure serving Aramco's massive Jafurah gas project, with a 20-year leaseback structure . The Jafurah project itself represents over $100 billion in development costs .

Power plant sale up to $4 billion — Aramco is exploring the sale of up to five gas-fired power plants that supply energy to its refineries. Sources told Reuters this alone could generate roughly $4 billion, part of a broader program that could raise tens of billions through asset divestitures .

Sulphur operations divestiture — As recently as June 17, 2026, Aramco confirmed it is contemplating selling a portion of its sulphur operations, continuing its push to monetize non-core infrastructure .

Oil export and storage terminal stakes — Banks including Citigroup have been retained to study selling shares in oil export and storage terminals, with potential value exceeding $10 billion. Aramco expects to launch an official sale process in early 2026 using a structure similar to its earlier pipeline deals .

This asset-sale strategy builds on precedent: In 2021, Aramco sold a 49% stake in its oil pipelines for $12.4 billion, and later that year sold a 49% stake in its gas pipelines for $15.5 billion — both under long-term leaseback arrangements that allowed Aramco to retain operational control .

Strategic Crude Storage Expansion with South Korea

On June 15, 2026, Saudi Arabia and South Korea signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand cooperation in oil and gas, specifically to increase the storage of Saudi crude oil in South Korea's strategic petroleum reserves . The two ministers committed to ensuring that promised volumes of crude oil and naphtha are supplied "without disruption" through the end of the year .

The MoU is a direct response to the supply-chain vulnerabilities exposed by the Hormuz crisis, designed to enhance supply stability and ensure a readily available reserve of Saudi crude in an Asian hub . It builds on a foundational 2023 agreement under which Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) agreed to store 5.3 million barrels of Saudi crude — mostly Arab Light grade — at the Ulsan storage facility in southeastern South Korea, with completion targeted by 2028. Under that deal, South Korea gains priority purchasing rights in case of a supply crisis and earns rent over a five-year lease period .

This expanded cooperation also covers exploring opportunities for infrastructure projects related to crude oil pipelines connecting production and export facilities . For South Korea, which depends on the Strait of Hormuz for roughly 70% of its oil imports, the arrangement is a critical energy security hedge .

How the Strait of Hormuz Crisis Reshaped Global Oil Markets

The Biggest Oil Supply Shock in History

The Strait of Hormuz closure — triggered by the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran in late February 2026 — has produced what analysts describe as the largest disruption to world energy supply since the 1970s energy crisis .

Prior to the conflict, roughly 20% of global oil supply — about 15 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and 5 million bpd of refined products — transited the strait . Nearly 15 million bpd of crude has been disrupted, removing an amount equivalent to nearly one-fifth of global daily consumption . The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that oil outputs from countries affected by the closure are down more than 14 million bpd . The Wikipedia article on the crisis notes that the restriction of shipments by more than 90% (around 10 million bpd of oil production) was the largest disruption in the history of the world oil market .

Brent crude prices surpassed $100 per barrel on March 8 for the first time in four years, peaking at $126 per barrel, with the largest-ever monthly increase in oil prices occurring in March 2026 . Dubia crude prices surged to $170 under some scenarios .

Impact on Global Markets

• Oil supply forecasts reversed: Earlier predictions of an oil glut for 2026 have been wiped out as buyers scramble for every available barrel .
• Growth forecasts cut worldwide: The crisis is forcing demand destruction, with some analysts warning it will take months for the market to normalize even after the strait reopens .
• Supply chains disrupted across multiple commodities: The crisis is not limited to crude; refined products, LNG, and petrochemical feedstocks are all affected . Over 4 million bpd of Gulf refining capacity has been forced offline due to export blockages .

Asian Refiners Hit Hardest

Because 80–89% of Hormuz crude flows to Asia, the impact has been most severe there :

• Refining margins in Asia soared to their highest level in nearly four years, with Singapore's refining margins reaching levels not seen since 2022 .
• Run cuts of 20% to 30% are being considered by major Asian processors as dozens of oil-laden tankers remain stuck in the Persian Gulf . Chinese and Japanese refiners — particularly state-owned companies — are most likely to reduce rates given their heavy reliance on Gulf crude .
• Asian refiners are scouring the world for alternative crude from non-Middle Eastern sources — including the US, West Africa, and the North Sea — after initially balking at sky-high prices .
• Shortages are emerging across Asia, from Thailand to Pakistan, as the supply crunch deepens . The Thai government ordered an immediate halt to all exports of fuel and other petroleum products .
• Indian, South Korean, and Japanese buyers have been urgently assessing stockpiles and alternative shipping routes and supply agreements .

The Broader Structural Shift

The crisis has exposed the vulnerability of a global oil system that has become dangerously reliant on a single maritime chokepoint. As analysts at Brookings noted, Asian markets were "hit early and hard" due to their proximity to the Persian Gulf and reliance on Gulf suppliers . The event has already triggered a search for alternative supply routes, accelerated investment in strategic storage (as seen in the Saudi-Korea deal), and renewed debate about energy diversification globally. Analysts emphasize that even if the strait reopens, a significant backlog of shipping — potentially requiring a month or more to clear — will extend the disruption .

Conclusion

Saudi Aramco's simultaneous pursuit of a $35 billion asset sale program and a strategic crude storage expansion in South Korea tells a larger story: the world's dominant oil exporter is aggressively restructuring its finances while also building out downstream security in its most critical market. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has accelerated both efforts, turning a pre-existing monetization strategy into an urgent financial imperative and making Asian storage partnerships a geopolitical necessity. For global oil markets, the crisis has been a brutal reminder of how quickly the balance can shift from anticipated glut to acute scarcity — and how long it will take to rebuild resilience.