GS Caltex to Enter Resources Recycling Business

Chairman Hur unveils ‘Bridge to the Future’

GS Caltex is embarking on a new business of resource recycling to brace for a shift into the low-carbon, green growth paradigm. The nation’s second-largest oil refiner and the petrochemical arm of GS Holdings, decided on Feb. 4 to enter the resource recycling business by acquiring Samil Polymer Co., a recycled plastic maker.
Recycled plastic is produced by recycling plastic wastes collected from automobiles and electronic home appliances. Generally speaking, recycling 1 ton of waste plastic could cut down on 1.26 tons of CO2.
The value of the global recycled plastic market is estimated at approximately 500 billion won, and the market is projected to grow at an annual average rate of 20 percent.
The domestic recycled plastic market is expected to show signs of a surge in the wake of the expansion of the mandatory use of recycled plastics in automobiles and electronic home appliances, the strengthening of the act on recycling resources for lower greenhouse gas emissions and mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE
Meanwhile, GS Caltex Chairman and CEO Hur Dong-soo urged his executives and staff members to pledge to ensure sustainable growth in the future in a speech at a ceremony to celebrate the start of the 2010 business year at the GS Tower in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, on Feb. 4.
Looking back at the year 2009, Hur said, “Last year was a significant year for solidifying a platform for ensuring sustainable growth in the future and securing corporate competitiveness by continuing to invest for the future despite unfavorable business conditions.” He added that the petroleum industry is forecast to suffer a setback due to such uncertain business conditions as a reduction in demand and margins for this year.
In regard to GS Caltex’s 2010 management goals, Hur said his company will have to continue to yield profits in such existing mainstay business areas as petroleum, petrochemicals and lubricants and focus on nurturing fuel cells, thin film batteries, carbon materials and resources exploration into the company’s new growth engines in the future.
In order to achieve the 2010 goals, he urged his executives and staff members to translate into action three tasks ― strengthening cost competitiveness, optimizing production and business facilities and building a foundation for new growth engine businesses and their commercialization ― and to concentrate on the company’s capabilities to explore new growth engines in the future.
Employees hired during the second half of 2009 performed a musical during the ceremony.
Titled, “I’m Your Energy,” the musical was a story about new GS employees’ adventures in searching for a truly new energy source. The climax showed how GS Caltex would be a leader in the energy field if the employees will be an energy source to light up the world, demonstrating the newcomers’ determination to grow as major players of hope in the future after overcoming the current crisis.
The musical, the sixth one since its debut in 2005, has established itself as an annual tradition at the ceremony to celebrate the new business year. nw

(right) GS Caltex Hur Dong-soo speaks with KEPCO Chairman Kim Ssang-su during a New Year’s greeting session for the energy industry. GS Caltex’s offshore oilfield in Cambodia.