GS Caltex seeks future growth engine on 50th anniversary
GS Caltex, which marks its 50th anniversary Friday, is seeking another future growth engine.
Korea’s first refiner had a record high 2.14 trillion won ($1.9 billion) operating profit last year, and is continuing its momentum this year by earning 585 billion won in profits in the first quarter. However, GS Caltex Chairman Huh Jin-soo said the company should not depend solely on its oil refinery business and that it was time to diversify business operations.
GS Caltex held a celebration event at its headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Thursday, where about 500 executives and employees participated.
“GS Caltex has become the nation’s leading energy company in terms of both size and quality. It is an outcome of the company’s endless efforts at innovation over the last 50 years,” Huh said. “Now, it’s time to prepare for another 50 years of success.”
Huh became CEO in 2012 and was made chairman earlier this year.
He i mmediately established a future strategy team in January, seeking a future growth engine.
“The impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is landing on our everyday life more quickly than anticipated. Electric and self-driving vehicles will be part of our life soon,” Huh said.
“We must establish a diversified business portfolio for the company’s sustainable growth.”
Along with the future strategy team, Huh’s expectations are very high about synergy between the future strategy and WeDea teams. WeDea is a compound word (in Korea) between “we” and “idea,” and the team is a project task force for GS Cal- tex’s non-oil refinery business operations.
The company’s advance into automotive maintenance last year through an investment into Cardoc, an auto repair start-up, was part of the WeDea team’s work.
GS Caltex is also investing in the biochemical and composite material businesses as future cash cows.
It invested 50 billion won to build a bio butanol plant in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, last September. Completion is scheduled for later this year.
The company is also reportedly reviewing making another investment in the petrochemical business. An industry insider was quoted as saying, “GS Caltex has already established a task force for the related project to decide whether to invest multi-trillions of won.”
GS Caltex was f ounded i n May 1967 as the first private oil refinery in Korea. It provides more than one-third of Korea’s oil needs and exports over 50 percent of its products.