Oil, gas stocks surge amid rising geopolitical tensions

[Photo by Yonhap]

As geopolitical tensions in the Middle East escalate and international crude oil prices spike, South Korea’s oil and gas-related stocks saw significant gains early Tuesday.

As of 9:11 a.m., GSE was trading at 5,280 won ($3.85), up 15.44 percent from the previous session. GSE supplies heating and cooking gas to parts of Gyeonggi Province and Incheon. Other gas companies also experienced gains, with Daesung Energy up 10.16 percent, Daesung Holdings rising 2.35 percent, Korea Gas Corporation increasing by 1.19 percent, Kyungdong City Gas up 1.14 percent, and Samchully gaining 0.89 percent.

In the petroleum sector, S-Oil rose by 1.2 percent, SK Gas by 1.04 percent, and other oil and gas distributors like Heungkuk Petroleum (up 7.22 percent), JoongAng Enervis (up 3.38 percent), and Daesung (up 1.89 percent) also saw increases.

Overnight, international crude oil prices surged by 3 to 4 percent. The September Brent crude futures settled up 3.3 percent, while the September West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 4.2 percent.

Meanwhile, game developer Krafton surged nearly 9 percent early Tuesday, hitting a 52-week high on the back of record-breaking second-quarter earnings. As of 9:17 a.m., Krafton was trading at 321,000 won, up 9.56 percent from the previous session.

Earlier, Krafton announced that its consolidated operating profit for the April-June period came to 332.1 billion won, up 152.6 percent versus a year ago.