Top executives of both GS Caltex and a GS Caltex compound resin plant in Karvina, Czech 

Republic led by V.Chairman Huh Jin-soo of GS Caltex cut the tape to open the petrochemical 

plant at a ceremony held on Nov. 17.

GS Caltex has become the first domestic firm to dedicate a compounded resin plant in Karvina, the Czech Republic, on Nov. 17 capable of producing 30,000 tons of the petrochemical product annually, the oil refinery said on Nov. 18.

The oil refinery set up a wholly-owned subsidiary for the sale of resin in July 2011 in the Czech Republic and the company now has completed the construction of the compounded resin plant and put the plant on stream in just two years since the set up of its subsidiary, the company said. 

The launching ceremony took place at the plant inside the Karvina Industrial Complex with some 150 people attending led by GS Caltex Vice Chairman Huh Jin-soo and other guests including Mayor Tomas Hansel of Karvina.

Vice Chairman Huh said in his congratulatory speech that GS Caltex has taken its first step as a global compounded resin maker with the Karvina plant going on stream and added that the oil refinery will continue to invest overseas to strengthen its competitive power as a global petrochemical product producer.

Compounded resin is a functional plastic that goes into the production of automobiles and electronic and electric home appliances and GS Caltex is the only oil refinery in Korea that produces the petrochemical product at its plants in Yeosu, Jecheon, and Jinju in Korea and Langkwang and Ssuchow in China.

With the brand new compounded resin plant in the Czech Republic, GS Caltex’s total production of the petrochemical product has been expanded to 190,000 tons annually.The company plans to expand the output of its Karvina plant to 50,000 tons annually by 2016, along with other plants in Korea and China, to bring its total annual output capacity of the product to 240,000.

The most updated technologies were employed, backed up by the vast pool of other technologies for design and construction accumulated over long years, to build the most appropriate production process. The product will be supplied to Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors car plants in Europe and Samsung and LG electronics plants also located in Europe and the company will try to supply the product to European carmakers such as Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, and others, with projected sales of 100 billion won in 2017. 

The compounded resin market in Europe, including Russia and Turkey, is estimated at 1.2 million tons and GS Caltex sold 6,000 tons of the product in 2012. Its market share in Europe is likely to expand greatly with the new Czech plant.

V.Chairman Huh Jin-soo of GS Caltex views an exhibition of 

products made with petrochemical raw materials.

On Nov. 12,, GS Caltex put on stream its compounded resin plant capable of turning out 49,000 tons of the petrochemical product annually in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, in a ceremony attended by some 600 people including local government officials and the executives of GS Caltex led by Chairman Hur Dong-soo and Vice Chairman Huh Jin-soo.

The company became the first commercial firm to build its plant in Jinju, one of the most renowned cultural towns in Korea because of the landmark pavilion Choksok-ru, which overlooks the Nam River, which flows through the middle of the town, and is known for an intense battle in 1592 between a Joseon Dynasty army and the numerically-superior invading Japanese army. The defending Joseon army defeated the Japanese invaders after a grueling battle. Hostess Nonkae’s courage to strangle a Japanese general to death during a party on a boat on the river is a well known part of the history surrounding the ancient city of Jinju. 

    Vice Chairman Huh said in his congratulatory speech that GS Caltex will continue to make investments in the Industrial Complex of Jinju so that the city would prosper as an industrial center of the southern region of South Gyeongsang Province.