North Korea conflict could cripple these oil and chemical facilities

As North Korea expands the range of its missiles, more than population centers are at risk.

A regional military conflict could jeopardize as much as a third of global crude oil supplies shipped by sea, analysts at Wood MacKenzie wrote in a report released today.

Much of North Asia's oil-refining capacity would also be in harm's way if military conflict broke out.

The area at risk represents about half of Asia's crude-refining capacity, along with much of the chemical production that supplies the region.

Japan and South Korea export large shipments of petrochemicals to China, where they are processed and then re-exported as finished products to the rest of the world.

Any significant loss of production would likely pressure global prices, because North Asia is a major exporter of fuels to Southeast Asia and Australia as well as Europe and the U.S., the analysts said.

(Correction: An earlier version of this story understated the total amount of Asian refining capacity.)

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