S-OIL CEO Al-Mahasher wins Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit
● On Oct. 15, S-OIL CEO received the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit in recognition of contributing to boosting investments and exports at the ceremony of the Foreign Company Day.
- Al-Mahasher pursued a mega-scale project worth 5 trillion won to build a refining and petrochemical facility in Ulsan.
● S-OIL is a win-win case of global cooperation between an oil consuming country and an oil producing country.
On Oct. 15, S-OIL CEO Nasser Al-Mahasher won the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit, the most prestigious award in the industrial field, at the ceremony of the Foreign Company Day held at COEX.
S-OIL CEO Al-Mahasher was credited with pursuing a mega-scale investment worth more than 5 trillion won to build a refining and petrochemical complex in Ulsan and with making a significant contribution to pushing its parent company Saudi Aramco, which is Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company, to acquire an additional stake in S-OIL (approx. $1.84 billion).
CEO Al-Mahasher from Saudi Arabia worked for the world’s largest energy company, Saudi Aramco, for 22 years and took office as S-OIL’s representative director and CEO in March 2012. He ardently proposed to Saudi Aramco that it has to focus its investment capability in Korea by stressing the criticality of the Asian market in the future oil and petrochemical industry and as a result of his endeavor, S-OIL garnered its largest-ever investment (approx. 5 trillion won) in its history.
With its completion target date in 2018, the largest-ever plant construction project in Korea will create about 12,700 jobs and its added value in Ulsan is expected to reach 1,110 billion won. Also, once the project is completed, the new plant will supply competitive feedstock to petrochemical companies in Ulsan. This will help to reinvigorate related industries, contributing substantially to economic development in the community in the mid and long term. Furthermore, this project will turn low-value residue oil into high-value petrochemicals (olefin downstream) and gasoline, which is forecast to ramp up exports to $2.5 billion per year.
“I believe that my receipt of the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit was the fruits of our efforts, investing in Korea with solid trust in its corporate environment despite a string of economic crises over the past 40 years,” said the CEO Al-Mahasher in his acceptance speech. “S-OIL has a successful DNA that enabled it to prevail over crises based on leading investments. With the successful completion of the ongoing, largest-ever investment, I aim to contribute further to Korea’s economic growth.”
He went on to say, “Saudi Aramco’s investment in S-OIL is an exemplary model of win-win cooperation between the oil producing country Saudi Arabia and the oil importing country Korea, going beyond simple crude oil supplier-consumer relations, and it is rated as the most successful case of foreign investment in Korea.” He added, “I will serve vigorously as a bridge-builder in the field of private economic cooperation between the two countries.”
On the management front, CEO Al-Mahasher led S-OIL to achieve outstanding performance results, posting 9,516 billion won in sales and 844 billion won in operating profits in the first half of this year through continued efforts towards the improvement of production facilities and operating efficiency. The operating profit of 8.9% is well beyond the performance of not only its domestic rivals but also world-class refiners, putting CEO Al-Mahasher’s leadership in the spotlight.
S-OIL has solidified relations with overseas partners despite ever-intensifying global competition and has expanded overseas sales channels to countries like Australia, thereby exporting about 60% of its products to 55 countries worldwide and raking in 5.6 trillion won from overseas in the first half of the year alone.
