[THE INVESTOR] SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met with Wang Yupu, the president of China’s state-run oil and gas firm Sinopec to forge a business partnership between the two, the group’s affiliate SK Innovation said Friday.

In the meeting held in Beijing, Chey said he was hoping to strengthen business ties between the two, citing a previous case of successful cooperation.

 

In 2012, Chey concluded a negotiation with Sinopec after meeting its former Vice Chairman Wang Tianpu to build a joint ethylene plant in Hubei province of China. Soon after the meeting, SK Global Chemical Co., the group’s manufacturer of base chemical products, and Sinopec established a joint company by investing 3.3 trillion won ($3 billion). The joint plant has been producing 2.5 million tons of petrochemical product since 2014. The joint company saw an operating profit of 406.3 billion won last year, the South Korean company said.

Taking the project as a base for future cooperation, the two chiefs also discussed ways to expand partnership into other related industries including oil refining, lubricant and lube base oil.

Sinopec is said to have shown interest in SK Innovation’s experience in operating oil refineries and other petrochemical processing as well as latest technologies in safety and environment friendly operations.

With Chairman Chey displaying keen interest in China, SK’s affiliates including SK Innovation has also been seeking business opportunities there.

SK Innovation, Korea’s top oil refiner, plans to seek global partnerships or merger and acquisition opportunities with companies in China that are skilled in manufacturing high value-added chemical products, the company said in a statement.


By Cho Chung-un/The Korea Herald (christory@heraldcorp.com)