Debate over an additional increase in electricity rates for corporate users has been escalating since a high-ranking official from the Energy Ministry unveiled a policy guideline to advance the nation’s electricity pricing system early this week. The ministry has sought to raise the nation’s cheap electricity rates in an effort to curb soaring power demand.In a press meeting on Tuesday, Han Jin-hyun, a vice minister for trade and energy, said the ministry would announce a new electricity pricing

SK Group, the nation’s third-largest conglomerate, is losing steam in its investment drive for future growth as the group’s leadership vacuum is expected to be prolonged. According to an industry source, SK Energy & Service, an unlisted, fast-growing gas and power business arm of SK Group, decided to drop its bid for STX Energy. The decision came after the appeals court’s decision on Friday to impose multiyear prison terms on group chairman Chey Tae-won and his younger brother, group vice chairm

The groundbreaking ceremony to build the world’s first underground thermal power plant in Seoul by 2016 was held on Friday, according to state-run Korea Midland Power Corp.The LNG-powered Seoul Thermoelectric Power Plant in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, will be relocated and reconstructed below ground by September 2016 before its would-be 2017 retirement. The plant site above ground will be transformed into a cultural and sports complex for citizens, the power generation firm said in a press release,

The upcoming earnings season for the nation’s leading oil refiners is expected to be poor due mainly to lower refinery margins in the third quarter, a stock analyst said in a report on Monday. “Slower oil demand in the Southeast Asian markets amid rising economic uncertainties and eased tension in the Middle East in the July-September period kept international oil prices from soaring, which led to lower refinery margins, a key income source of oil refiners,” Baek Young-chan of Hyundai Securities

Despite their continued business slump this year, the nation’s leading construction companies are increasing outbound merger and acquisition activities to further tap into overseas markets. According to a market source, GS E&C, the nation’s fourth-largest builder, is considering the buy out of United Arab Emirates-based Global Process Systems for up to 100 billion won ($92 million). GPS specializes in engineering-procurement-construction projects in the oil and gas industry. GS E&C declined to c

With the dim outlook of Korea’s bid to win a nuclear power project in Finland, the government is shifting gear on its nuclear export drive to Vietnam from the northern European country. The change in target nations comes following a summit in Hanoi between President Park Geun-hye and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang on Sunday and little progress in a bid for an ongoing Finnish reactor construction project. “Reflected in a joint statement issued on Monday after the summit, the two heads of st

The fifth Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable, convening 13 energy ministers from countries supplying and demanding oil or gas, will open in Seoul on Thursday for a three-day run, officials said Tuesday.“We expect that the international event will offer Korea an opportunity to exert global leadership in the energy sector,” the Energy Ministry said in a press release. The participants also included ministers from Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.Leaders of energy-re

Korea Racing Authority CEO and chairman Chang Tae-pyong has resigned from his post, the state-run agency said Tuesday. His term ends in November next year, but he tendered his resignation to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the supervisor of the KRA, early this month without a specified reason. Regarding his sudden move, there was a rumor that Chang had an uncomfortable relationship with current Agriculture Minister Lee Dong-phil. Chang started his career as secretary to the