Former President Son Joo-suk of Korea Petroleum Quality & Distribution Authority (K-Petro) took office as the new president of the Korean National Oil Corp. (KNOC) on March 5.
New KNOC President Son held an inauguration ceremony at KNOC headquarters in Ulsan on the same day.
In his inaugural speech, President Son said, “I feel a heavy responsibility as I take office as KNOC president responsible for Korea’s energy security at a grave time of rapid change in the Middle East.”
President Soh said he would attach top management priority to fulfilling KNOC’s intrinsic mission of energy security.
President Son said, “We will focus on substantive growth thorough recovery of financial soundness, qualitative upgrading of petroleum development projects and optimizing of operational efficiency of the petroleum stockpile business, a national security asset.”
He called for nurturing of new growth engines based on field management, safety management, AI innovation and corporate culture innovation.
Meanwhile, Son held a ceremony to decare joint cooperation between labor and management and agreed to fully cooperate to overcome a management crisis through labor-management partnership.
President Son, born in 1960, graduated from Jeonju High School and Kyunghee University Politics and Diplomacy Department.
He served as president of Korea Environment Corp. from 2006 to 2008 and president of K-Petro from 2018 until 2021.
KNOC President Son Joo-suk presides over a meeting designed to cope with an oil crisis in the wake of the Middle East situation at KNOC headquarters in Ulsan on April 2. (Photos: KNOC)
2 Million Barrels of UAE Cride Delivered to KNOC’s Storage Center in Yeosu
Korea National Oil Corp. said on March 25 that 2 million barrels of crude oil secured under a joint international stockpiling project with ADNOC, wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, were being delivered at KNOC’s petroleum storage center in Yeosu.
KNOC said the whole of the crude oil will be supplied to Korean refinery companies in April, not exported, after completing a priority purchase agreement.
Starting with the 2 million barrels, part of the amount agreed under the Korean-UAE government cooperation project, the remainder is to be imported on a gradual basis.
KNOC has already supplied Korean refinery companies a combined 9.87 million barrels of crude oil stockpiled under the joint international crude oil project since the U.S.-Israel war with Iran broke out.
The amount, an equivalent to 10 percent of the government’s stockpiled oil reserves, is evaluated to greatly contribute to stabilizing crude oil supply by suppling crude oil to Korea under a joint international stockpiling project.
Under the joint international stockpiling project, idle petroleum storage facilities, owned by KNOC, are rented to state-run oil companies of oil export countries and the crude oil is supplied to Korean refinery companies.
Korea is given a priority purchase right in the case of a petroleum supply crisis.
KNOC Pursues Change and Innovation
Korea National Oil Corp. said on April 2 the corporation is pursuing organizational and personnel management innovation to make KNOC a public entity whose trust is restored in accordance with people’s expectations.
As President Soh took office, executives have been reorganized, ranking officials have offered their resignation and have been transferred.
Acting President Choi Moon-gyu, head of the Planning and Finance Division, pursued in-house innovation, stepped down.
KNOC President Son said, “Reorganization and innovation are prepared so that KNOC can be reborn into an entity focusing on its intrinsic values, and outcomes are to come out and executed in the second quarter of the year.”
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