South Korea’s SK Group is eyeing expansion in Southeast Asia in a move to boost its global business in various sectors such as liquefied natural gas production information and communications technology (ICT) development.

According to SK Group on Thursday, its chairman Chey Tae-won and key executives embarked on a trip to Southeast Asia shortly after the Lunar New Year holidays that ended last week as part of on-site management. Chey and executives Cho Dae-sik, chairman of SK Supex Council, SK Group’s highest decision-making body, Kim Jun, president of SK Innovation Co., Park Jung-ho, president of SK Telecom Co., and Yu Jeong-joon, president of SK E&S Co., held a global strategy meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and discussed mid- to long-term measures to promote growth in emerging markets in Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Top executives shared views on expanding businesses in the region that has abundant resources such as oil and natural gas and on boosting partnerships with emerging countries that are actively nurturing new ICT-led industries by attracting foreign investment, providing new business opportunities to key units SK Innovation and SK Telecom.

At the meeting, top executives highlighted the fact that major Southeast Asian economies have been expanding with annual growth rates exceeding 5 percent thanks to respective government-led development initiatives and SK Group should continue to explore partnerships in with the governments in the region.

SK Group has been looking into Southeast Asia in recent years to boost its global business and has been aggressively exploring opportunities.

Chairman Chey met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in the Southeast Asian country in November and discussed cooperation on the conglomerate supporting its future growth strategy.

Currently, SK Group produces 9,000 barrels of lube base oil at a joint facility in Indonesia that began operations in 2008. It also produces a daily amount of 61,400 barrel oil equivalent in Vietnam after successfully extracting oil from its 15-1 oil reserve block in the Southeast Asian country in 2009.

As part of efforts to boost efficiency, SK Group is considering setting up a regional head office in Southeast Asia that will be independently responsible for carrying out businesses and maximizing capacity

By Kang Doo-soon and Lee Eun-joo

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