Military to Cut Use of Oil in 2008

The three divisions of the military have decided to consume 11 percent less oil allocated for use this year amid skyrocketing crude prices, minimizing flight of airplanes and mobilization of other vehicles, military sources said Sunday.

The decision was made at a meeting Thursday of officers of the Army, Air Force and Navy in charge of energy conservation and military operations that was presided over by Choi Gwang-seop, chief of the Defense Ministry's resources conservation bureau, the sources said.

The price of Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, jumped 61 percent in February compared with a year earlier. South Korea, the world's fifth-largest crude buyer, relies entirely on imports for its oil needs.

Under the project, the Army plans to save 180,000 drums of oil, worth 27.2 billion won, by merging similar and overlapping field training operations, reducing mobilization of vehicles consuming large amounts of energy and reducing temperatures in barracks and other military facilities to 18 degrees Celsius.

The Navy is set to minimize mobilization of ships and remind its forces to abide by regulations for fuel efficiency while operating vessels and other vehicles with the aim of reducing use of oil by 120,000 drums out of a total of 1.15 million drums allocated for the Navy this year.

The Air Force has a plan to save up to 254,000 drums of airplane fuel and 23,000 drums of gasoline this year.

To that end, the flight hours of each pilot will be reduced to 135 hours for the whole year, less than the minimum 160 hours considered necessary for maintenance of optimum pilot performance. (Yonhap)