H. Yoo
Research expert covering South Korea
GS Caltex Corporation - statistics & facts
GS Caltex was founded in 1967 as South Korea’s first private oil company. Currently jointly owned by the American energy corporation Chevron and South Korean conglomerate GS Group, the company supplies around a third of oil consumption within South Korea and exports around half of its products. With chemicals being one of South Korea’s major industries, the country is one of the world’s leading chemical markets. The domestic industry mainly deals with petrochemicals and commodity chemicals, often importing basic materials for further processing, the products of which are either exported or used domestically. Several major conglomerates hold chemical or oil companies, with GS Caltex being one of the top 10 leading chemical companies within South Korea.
What are GS Caltex’s business sectors and subsidiaries?
GS Caltex is mainly divided into their oil refining business, lubricant business, and petrochemical business. Most of their sales stem from the refinery sector, making up over 80 percent of their net sales, with diesel being one of their best-selling products. Overall, this sector has seen a gradual increase in production in recent years. The company also operates globally, holding multiple subsidiaries in various countries outside of South Korea, such as Singapore, China, India, and Czechia.Impact of global oil prices on GS Caltex and future outlook
In early 2020, global oil prices collapsed and led to a decrease in demand for oil, which worsened with the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Oil and refinery companies worldwide were hit hard, GS Caltex being no different with their sales revenue decreasing by about a third from 2019 to 2020. Two years later, GS Caltex not only increased their sales revenue but also saw a record-high in operating profits within their oil refining business. Much of this could be attributed to the increased demand and limited supply of fuel as the effects of the pandemic had started to wane on global markets during this time.
