Hyundai Oilbank Forges
Strategic Alliance with Cosmo Oil

Both agree to collaborate in five business areas

Hyundai Oilbank has signed an MOU with Cosmo Oil, Japan's fourth-biggest refiner, to collaborate in their overall refinery-related business areas.
Hyundai Oilbank President and CEO Seo Young-tae and his Cosmo Oil counterpart Yaichi Kimura inked the agreement at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel on April 16.
Seo said, "We are closely related in shareholding, as Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co, the largest shareholder of Hyundai Oilbank, acquired the largest stake in Cosmo Oil last year as part of its global strategy."The MOU calls for both companies to collaborate in five fields -- export cooperation, exchanges of products, overseas projects, exchange of technology and the strengthening of marketing activities to cover overall areas of the energy business. The agreement aims at cutting down on costs, ensuring efficient business and the exploration of new business opportunities in each collaboration area.
Under the agreement, Hyundai Oilbank and Cosmo Oil decided to complement each other in such vital areas as petroleum products, immediate products and petrochemical products to have strategic synergetic effects by capitalizing on each other's strategic positions and different facility capabilities.
In the exporting field, they agreed to realize an economy of scale through collaboration to meet a rise in demand in the Asian-Pacific region, including China and the United States while cooperating in redoubling marketing activities in the export and domestic markets.
In addition, Hyundai Oilbank wants to learn Japan's advanced management tactics of gas filling stations and marketing know-how on self-service gas stations. The Korean refinery is considering entering into the Korean self-service gas station business area.
A Hyundai Oilbank official said, "Hyundai Oilbank and Cosmo Oil decided to form up at least three joint committees to materialize the strategic alliance, which Hyundai Oilbank believes will serve as an opportunity for the Korean side to sell to the Japanese market, which has higher barriers, and acquire Japan's advanced technology."
RE-ELECTION OF CEO FOR THIRD TIME IN A ROW

President and CEO Seo has been re-elected as the chief executive officer of the oil refinery in an extraordinary shareholders'meeting held at Hyundai Oilbank's Seoul office on April 3. Seo, re-elected for the third straight time, is now seven years in office since he took the helm at the refinery in 2002.
He has been credited with posting positive numbers for the sixth straight year in 2007 after transforming the refinery, which was faced with a crisis due to a massive accumulated deficit until 2001.
CEO Seo said in the e-mail message he sent to his employees following his re-election, urge all staff members to carry out all work, including sophistication expansion projects, for the purpose of the development of Hyundai Oilbank without a hitch."He was a graduate of Kunkuk University's Business Administration Department. He worked as the manager of Chase Manhattan Bank's Seoul Branch, a financial officer at Seagram New York's head office, vice president of Doosan Seagram and managing director of Salomon Smith Barney Securities before assuming the role of Hyundai Oilbank's CFO in 2001. nw

Hyundai Oilbank President and CEO Seo Young-tae and his Cosmo Oil counterpart Yaichi Kimura sign the agreement at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel on April 16.