Fuel prices are displayed at a gas station in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk

SK Energy, S-Oil, GS Caltex and Hyundai Oilbank have blamed self-employed gas station owners for the slower-than-expected falls in domestic gasoline and diesel prices after the government carried out an additional reduction in the fuel tax earlier this month.

The Korea Petroleum Association comprised of the nation's four largest oil refiners said in a recent statement that its members have cut their prices immediately at gas stations that are under their direct management, whenever the government has reduced the fuel tax, since last November.

The association emphasized that the refiners have endured losses because they bought crude oil before the fuel tax cut and now fear substantial losses as a consequence.

Their claims have been widely interpreted as part of a move to avoid paying tax on their windfall profits.

Regardless of political orientation, lawmakers have proposed a windfall tax recently in order to urge refiners to share the burden caused by high inflation, as consumers have complained about high oil prices even after the tax cut.

Energyconsumer, a civic group monitoring energy and petroleum prices, announced its recent analysis showing that the increase in oil prices at domestic gas stations have been sharper than the global oil price hike.

The civic group claimed that the domestic gasoline price ought to have risen by just 130 won per liter from the price last November, considering global oil prices and the fuel tax reduction. However, gasoline prices at local gas stations rose by 286 won per liter on average during the period.

It also claimed that the domestic diesel price went up 530 won per liter during the period, although, realistically, its price should have only risen to 402 won per liter.

In response, the association explained that it takes time for the falls in fuel tax and global oil prices to be reflected in gasoline and diesel prices at gas stations nationwide.

It added that the consumer price basically depends on gas station owners, not the refiners.

The government supported the claim, saying that domestic fuel prices have been stabilized since the fuel tax reduction on July 1.

"Given that the prices of oil supplied by domestic refiners have fallen significantly, gas stations are expected to cut their fuel prices additionally, once they use up their inventory," the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said after Thursday's meeting with experts from Korea National Oil Corp., the Korea Energy Economics Institute and Aramco Asia Korea.

Consumers, however, do not appear to believe the claims, saying that gas stations did not hesitate to raise their prices when global oil prices were going up.

"Considering that it takes only a couple of weeks for gas stations to use up their inventory, our analysis of oil prices over the past seven months proved their claim does not make sense," an Energyconsumer official said.