It seems that refiners, which have been hit hard by the Corona 19 crisis and the plunge in oil prices, will have the worst performance ever.

After S-OIL, the first company to announce the results, posted an operating deficit of KRW 1 trillion, Hyundai Oil Bank also recorded a deficit of KRW 560 billion.

In the first quarter of the refining industry, with concerns that the deficit may be more severe than previously expected, there is even a forecast that the deficit will reach 4 trillion won.

S-Oil recorded the largest deficit since its foundation on a quarterly basis with operating loss of KRW 1.73 trillion in the first quarter.

This operating loss exceeds the market forecast by more than 50%.

Hyundai Oilbank also posted an operating loss of KRW 632.6 billion, but the deficit of only two of the four domestic oil refiners amounted to KRW 1.575 trillion.

SK Innovation, the No. 1 company in the refining industry, will release its first quarter earnings in the middle of this month on the 6th and GS Caltex, the No. 2 company.

In the industry, the forecast that the SK Innovation deficit will exceed 1 trillion won is dominant, and GS Caltex is also expected to record a deficit of over 500 billion won.

The declining demand for crude oil and petroleum products due to the plunge in international oil prices and the sharp decline in demand due to the spread of corona19 is a crucial burden.

Refiners import and sell crude oil into petroleum products, which in the process have plunged in oil prices and the inventory value of petroleum products has declined.
To make matters worse, the lack of demand due to Corona19 is also accelerating deteriorating earnings.

For this reason, the industry said, "The S-Oil deficit is more than twice the market forecast, and other companies are more likely to record a larger deficit than expected." . "

Last year, the total operating profit of four refineries was KRW 3,110 billion, and this year, the profits of all three companies will be lost in three months.

From this month, the agreement of production cuts by oil-producing countries will be implemented, and expectations are expected that Corona 19 will calm down and improve, but negative prospects that do not expect to rebound unless refining margins and demand, which are linked to profitability, recover, will prevail.