South Korea’s major oil refiners and petrochemical companies ended the July-September period strong despite it being a typical slow season for refiners thanks to their lucrative product mix with chemicals and lubricants businesses.

SK Innovation Co., the largest refiner in Korea earned 2.4 trillion won ($2.1 billion) from operation in the first nine months this year, of which 62 percent came from petrochemical and lubricants sectors. The chemical business was by far the best among its businesses and delivered a total of 1.1 trillion won operating profit from January to September this year.

Lubricant business raked in a profit of 359.2 billion won in the nine months.

SK Innovation is expected to beat last year’s all-time record profit of 3.2 trillion won this year.

As of 1:45 p.m. on Monday, shares of SK Innovation were up 1.44 percent at 212,000 won

S-Oil, a South Korean joint venture with Saudi Aramco, earned 553.2 billion won ($491.73 million) on a consolidated basis in the third quarter this year, up whopping 376.1 percent from a year ago. Non-refining business was credited for 40 percent of the earning.

It posted 90.5 billion won in operating profit from petrochemical business and 126.3 billion won from lubricants division.

Since 2015, the company has been upgrading its facility to produce olefin and other high-value products. S-Oil shares were up 0.39 percent at 127,500 won.

Hyundai Oilbank Co. was able to generate strong earnings in the third quarter despite smaller yield due to repair and maintenance works. Its third-quarter operating profit jumped 121.7 percent on year to 274.7 billion won and sales 22.5 percent to 3.3 trillion won thanks to its subsidiaries’ brisk performance. Its four units including Hyundai Chemical Co. and Hyundai Cosmo Petrochemical Co. delivered nearly 400 billion won in combined operating profit between January and September this year.

GS Caltex Corp. which is yet to release its third-quarter performance is expected to have earned 550 billion won in operating profit, up nearly 35 percent from the previous year.

By Kang Doo-soon and Cho Jeehyun

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