800K bbl/day
Crude refining capacityCrude Refining Capacity
Starting from crude oil, GS Caltex's business builds on refining and extends to petrochemicals, base oil and lubricants —
follow the production processes and key products of the Yeosu Complex to see GS Caltex's business and competitiveness.
Naphtha, LPG, off-gas and unconverted oil from the refining process feed the petrochemical and base oil businesses, and in turn become the materials and products that industry and everyday life depend on.
Refines crude oil sourced from around the world into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, as well as feedstock for the petrochemical and base oil businesses.
Produces aromatics such as benzene, toluene, mixed xylene and para-xylene from naphtha and other feedstocks.
Produces basic petrochemicals such as ethylene and propylene from a range of feedstocks including naphtha, LPG and refinery off-gas.
Produces polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) from ethylene and propylene, and supplies compounded resins for a wide range of applications.
Produces high-quality Group II and Group III base oils from unconverted oil (UCO) generated in the refinery's upgrading process.
Produces a wide range of Kixx lubricants, from automotive to industrial, built on high-quality base oil and accumulated technology.
Crude refining capacityCrude Refining Capacity
Aromatics capacityAromatics Capacity
Olefins capacityOlefins Capacity
Polymer capacityPolymer Capacity
Base oil capacityBase Oil Capacity
Lubricants capacityLubricants Capacity
Founded in 1967 as Korea's first private refiner, GS Caltex has grown through continuous investment and business expansion. A business that began in refining has expanded into petrochemicals, base oil and lubricants.
Crude refining facilities ranked No.4 in the world as a single-site refinery, with an upgrading capacity of 275K barrels a day.
In a business heavily exposed to external factors such as international oil prices and refining margins, we continuously manage profitability and financial soundness.
The debt ratio fell from 111.8% in 2021 to 60.5% in 2025, while total equity grew from KRW 11.1 trillion to KRW 13.8 trillion over the same period.
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 34,538 | 58,532 | 48,608 | 47,614 | 44,630 |
| EBITDA | 2,990 | 5,040 | 2,740 | 1,540 | 1,900 |
| Operating income | 2,019 | 3,979 | 1,684 | 548 | 884 |
| Net income | 1,051 | 2,789 | 1,153 | 109 | 706 |
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total assets | 23,582 | 26,038 | 24,322 | 23,174 | 22,075 |
| Total liabilities | 12,449 | 12,518 | 10,823 | 10,075 | 8,320 |
| Total equity | 11,133 | 13,520 | 13,499 | 13,099 | 13,754 |
| Debt ratio | 111.8% | 92.6% | 80.2% | 76.9% | 60.5% |
Debt ratio is calculated as total liabilities ÷ total equity. Revenue swings widely from year to year with oil prices and refining margins, but total equity has grown and the debt ratio has steadily improved.
From the crude oil terminal through refining, upgrading, petrochemicals and base oil — a look at the main production processes of the Yeosu Complex.
Crude oil sourced from some 30 countries is stored in crude tanks and then sent to atmospheric distillation, the starting point of every process. The fractions separated here become the feedstock for the other three streams.
The basics of refining: splitting crude oil by boiling point and removing impurities. The fractions separated here become the feedstock for the other three streams.
CDU · VDU · HDS · SRUHeavy oil is cracked again with catalysts and hydrogen into higher-value light products such as gasoline and diesel — 275K barrels a day.
RFCC · VGOFCC · HCR · VRHCRThe stream in which naphtha, LPG and off-gas from refining become petrochemical products such as aromatics, olefins and polymers.
AROM · MFCUnconverted oil (UCO) from the hydrocracker (HCR) is turned into high-quality base oil, which then goes into lubricants.
BOPA look at the main production processes, from the crude terminal through refining, upgrading, petrochemicals and base oil. ← marks the feed source; colored chips are the products.
→ On to the next chapters
30K barrels a day of high-quality base oil — leading into the lubricants chapter. → Products collected in product tanks are shipped at home and abroad by vessel from the product terminal, and by pipeline and tank truck.
How 800K barrels of crude a day become energy — it starts at the Yeosu Complex, home to the world's No.4 single-site refinery.
Launched in 1967 as Korea's first private refiner, GS Caltex refines crude oil from around the world into the energy and products that our lives and industries need.
We source some 80 crude grades from around 30 countries. Supply routes that don't rely on any single region spread purchasing risk.
Light or heavy, sweet or sour — being able to handle crudes of very different character is the first condition for stable supply.
Heated crude oil fed into the atmospheric distillation column separates by boiling point into various fractions — LPG, naphtha, kerosene, diesel, residue and more. Each fraction then becomes feedstock for downstream refining, upgrading and petrochemical processes.
GS Caltex has an upgrading capacity of 275K barrels a day. Heavy oil separated in atmospheric distillation goes through upgrading and is converted into higher-value light products such as gasoline, kerosene and diesel.
GS Caltex petroleum products are supplied to gas stations and LPG stations nationwide, as well as to industrial customers, railways and airlines.
Feedstock from refining goes on to become aromatics, olefins, polymers and other petrochemical products. Next, a look at how GS Caltex's business extends from refining into petrochemicals.
Producing benzene, toluene, mixed xylene, para-xylene and other aromatics from naphtha and other feedstocks — 2.8 million tons a year of world-scale aromatics capacity.
Naphtha from the refining process passes through petrochemical processes and is converted into aromatics such as benzene, toluene, mixed xylene and para-xylene.
‘Aromatic’ means fragrant. When 19th-century chemists first classified this family, many of the compounds they found really did have pleasant scents — and so they became ‘the fragrant family’. The East Asian name, 芳香, likewise means fragrance.
Today the name has nothing to do with scent. It now refers to ring compounds like benzene whose electrons spread evenly around the ring, making them unusually stable. A name that began with fragrance has come to describe a structure.
A representative aromatic compound of six carbon atoms bonded in a ring, used as a basic raw material for chemicals such as synthetic resins, synthetic fibers and detergents.
High-purity benzene 930K tons/yrOne methyl group (CH₃) on the benzene ring — that small difference makes solvents for paints and inks, and the raw material for polyurethane (TDI).
Toluene 170K tons/yrTwo methyl groups on opposite (para) positions — the starting point for clothing and PET bottles. TPA, the raw material for polyester and PET, comes from here.
Para-xylene 1,350K tons/yr · FlagshipWith world-scale capacity and accumulated technology, GS Caltex reliably supplies high-quality aromatics to customers at home and abroad.
Naphtha, LPG and refinery off-gas are used as feedstock for olefins. Next, a look at the olefins business, which produces ethylene, propylene and more from a range of feedstocks.
Producing 900K tons of ethylene a year from naphtha, LPG, refinery off-gas and other feedstocks — the MFC, a roughly KRW 2.7 trillion investment, was completed in November 2022.
Hydrocarbons such as naphtha and LPG are thermally cracked at high temperature into smaller molecules, then quenched, compressed and separated to produce basic petrochemicals such as ethylene and propylene.
In the late 18th century, chemists found that ethylene combined with chlorine produced oily liquid droplets. They named it the ‘oil-making gas’ (gaz oléfiant) — and that is where the word olefin comes from.
Ethylene and propylene are typical olefins with a carbon-carbon double bond (C=C). Highly reactive, they are basic raw materials for a wide range of petrochemical products, including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
A typical naphtha cracker (NCC) handles only naphtha, but the MFC also feeds gaseous feedstocks such as ethane and LPG into its furnaces, and takes refinery off-gas into the back end. Low-value refinery by-products become feedstock.
That's the Mixed in the nameThe high temperature of the cracking furnace breaks the long hydrocarbon chains. The output is then quenched, compressed and separated into individual products.
Thermal cracking, not boiling-point separationThe carbon-carbon double bond (C=C) is highly reactive and readily bonds with other molecules. Ethylene and propylene, which have this property, are produced as basic petrochemicals.
The building blocks of petrochemicalsThe MFC can use not only naphtha but also LPG and refinery off-gas. This increases flexibility in feedstock selection and, through integration with refining, secures feedstock competitiveness.
Mixed C4 is used to produce butadiene, a raw material for synthetic rubber, ABS and nylon.
GS Caltex invested about KRW 2.7 trillion to build the MFC at the Yeosu Complex, completing it in November 2022. With the MFC, we secured 900K tons a year of ethylene capacity and, by linking refining and petrochemical processes, broadened feedstock use and our business portfolio.
Ethylene and propylene from the MFC go through polymerization to become polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and other polymer products. Next, a look at the polymer business.
From ethylene and propylene to a wide range of industrial materials — with 980K tons a year of polymer capacity.
Basic petrochemicals such as ethylene and propylene go through polymerization to become polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and other polymer products.
From the Greek poly (many) and meros (part) — a polymer is literally ‘something made of many parts’. In East Asian languages it is 重合體, ‘a substance joined over and over’.
A macromolecule formed when small molecules called monomers bond repeatedly; through polymerization it becomes the material for films, containers, pipes, auto parts and more.
Ethylene and propylene are the representative monomers used to produce polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
Monomer (monomer)Reacting monomers with catalysts such as Ziegler-Natta or metallocene to convert them into long-chain macromolecules is called polymerization.
Properties tuned by catalyst and process conditionsA polymer is a mass of countless tangled long chains. It is extruded, cooled and cut into rice-grain-sized pellets, which then go through various processing steps to be used in films, containers, pipes, auto parts and more.
Polymer 980K tons/yrUnit: K tons/yr · 500 + 300 + 180 = 980
GLOBAL · AS OF 2025Overseas production: China 2 · Czech Republic — Yeosu and Jinju plants; Langfang, Suzhou and Shanghai (China); Karviná (Czech Republic); Milan (Italy); Tokyo (Japan); Chennai (India)
The polymer business, which began with polypropylene production in 1988, has broadened into high-performance materials through continued investment in facilities and technology development.
Next, a look at the business that produces high-quality base oil from unconverted oil (UCO) generated in the refinery's upgrading process.
Producing 30K barrels a day of high-quality base oil, with over 70% of output supplied to overseas markets.
Using unconverted oil (UCO) from the hydrocracker (HCR) in the refinery's upgrading facilities, further refining turns it into high-quality base oil.
Just as the name says, it's the oil that forms the base. Finished lubricants such as engine oil are over 90% base oil, with small amounts of additives fine-tuning performance. Because it makes up most of the finished product, base oil quality sets the foundation of lubricant performance.
Base oils have international grades (API Groups): Gr.II, with fewer impurities and more stable viscosity than the older Gr.I, and premium Gr.III. GS Caltex produces these high-quality grades with state-of-the-art hydrocracking technology and supplies them worldwide as Kixx LUBO.
The oil the refinery's hydrocracker (HCR) couldn't fully break down — unconverted oil. This heavy feedstock, with its tangled molecules, is the starting point for base oil.
A low-value feed becomes the starting pointProcesses including two-stage hydrocracking, iso-dewaxing and hydrofinishing remove impurities and improve viscosity characteristics and low-temperature fluidity so that viscosity performance holds up across temperature changes.
Better low-temperature fluidity and viscosityGr.II and Gr.III produced flexibly from the same feed. Gr.III in particular, with its high viscosity index, is the heart of premium automotive and industrial lubricants.
Tighter emission rules = rising demandBase oil production began in November 2007 together with the No.2 upgrading unit. Starting at 16K barrels a day, the facility has been expanded to a current capacity of 30K barrels, with over 70% of output supplied to overseas markets.
As environmental regulations tighten, demand for high-quality base oil keeps growing. GS Caltex supplies products to Asia-Pacific as well as the Americas and Europe.
Blend base oil with additives suited to the application and required performance, and it becomes a lubricant. Next, a look at the Kixx lubricants business.
Built on in-house high-quality base oil and accumulated technology, producing 9K barrels a day across 300+ products.
Lubricants form an oil film between moving surfaces, reducing direct contact and preventing friction and wear.
A lubricant forms a thin oil film between two surfaces moving against each other, reducing friction, wear and heat. It is used wherever there is motion, from car engines to factory equipment.
Lubricants are made by blending base oil with additives suited to the application and required performance, and base oil makes up over 90% of the finished product. GS Caltex makes Kixx products with in-house high-quality base oil and accumulated blending technology.
However smooth it looks, a metal surface is microscopically uneven. Move it as is and it scratches, heats up and wears away — friction and wear.
The challenge of every machineWhen a lubricant forms an oil film between two surfaces, metal no longer meets metal directly. Surfaces that once scraped each other now glide on oil.
This film decides an engine's lifespanSo cars run with more power, ships glide on, and factory machines keep turning. 300+ Kixx products — in-house base oil plus the science of additives — each take charge of their own kind of motion.
9K barrels a day · KIXXLubricant production, which began at the Incheon Plant in 1969, has continued for more than 50 years. Since launching the Kixx brand in 2005, we have supplied a wide range of automotive and industrial products to markets at home and abroad.
Starting from crude oil, GS Caltex's business has grown from its refining base into petrochemicals, base oil and lubricants. These distinct businesses are organically connected through feedstock, processes and technology, producing energy and a wide range of industrial materials. From energy to materials, GS Caltex builds competitiveness for a better future.
DATA — gscaltex.com/kr/business · gspolymer.com · kixxoil.com · GS Caltex Sustainability Report 2025 · GS Caltex Media Hub (as of 2025)
KEY FIGURES — Crude refining 800K bbl/day · Upgrading 275K (34.3%) · Aromatics 2,800K tons/yr · Olefins 2,300K tons/yr (MFC investment KRW 2.7T) · Polymer 980K tons/yr · Base oil 30K bbl/day · Lubricants 9K bbl/day (300+ Kixx products)
PHOTO — GS Caltex Media Hub Photo Exhibition
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