South Korean S-Oil again shelves new refinery plan

摘要

Seoul—S-Oil, South Korea's second-largest refiner, has yet again shelved its plans to build a second refinery in the wake of soaring construction costs and raw material prices, sources close to the company said March 19. S-Oil's board in April 2007 approved a 480,000 b/d grassroots refinery project to be built in Seosan, 277 km (172 miles) south of Seoul. But the plan was frozen last June after land owners and local residents demanded a higher price for the refinery site than the company was willing to pay. The refiner recently won approval from local regulators to purchase another piece of land for the complex and was set to revive the project until the economics once again proved to be unviable.