* Competition to help lower auto fuel prices -econ minister * Samsung Total says no plan to set up own petrol stations (Adds Samsung Total statement and more details; paragraphs 6-7) By Meeyoung Cho SEOUL, April 19 (Reuters) - South Korea said Samsung Total Petrochemical Co Ltd would join domestic refiners in selling gasoline in the country from June through Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) as the world's fifth-largest crude oil importer aims to reduce gas prices. Samsung Total and state-run KNOC are in talks over exact sales volumes and prices of gasoline, the Korean Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Suk-woo told reporters on Thursday. South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, is heavily dependent on oil imports and is struggling to curb inflation as global oil prices rally. The Korean government has been helping retailers expand petrol stations that undercut pump prices by receiving auto fuel mainly from KNOC. KNOC imports or buys gasoline locally. "We are increasing competition as five companies will provide gasoline instead of four," Hong said, with Samsung Total joining the current four refiners - SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil and Hyundai Oilbank. Samsung Total's supply decision was made to help the government's policy to stabilise oil prices and people's economy, the joint venture between Samsung and France's Total said in a statement late on Thursday. It added that the firm had "no plan to supply and market oil products by setting up its own petrol stations locally". After the government announcement, some domestic media criticised the government as having given some favours to South Korea's largest group Samsung while failing to take fresh measures to tame record auto fuel prices. Samsung Total now exports 37,000 barrels of gasoline a month to Japan with production from a condensate splitter. It plans to add 88,000 barrels per month to production from May, the economy ministry, the finance ministry and four other government offices said in a joint statement on Thursday. Samsung Total is building a 145,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) condensate splitter on top of its existing 80,000 bpd condensate splitter. Hong also said imported gasoline would help lower pump prices, as import tariffs of 3 percent will not be slapped on oil products to be traded in the country's online market. South Korea opened its first online spot market for oil products on March 30 in a bid to tame record-high fuel prices and increase transparency. Some 160,000 litres of gasoline and 360,000 litres of diesel have traded as of April 17, meaning daily trades were at a sluggish 43,000 litres on average. Benchmark Brent crude traded above $118 a barrel on Thursday. Brent rose as high as $128 in early March, its biggest surge since an all-time high of just over $147 in July 2008. (Reporting by Meeyoung Cho; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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