S-Oil Onsan Refinery — South Korea
Refinery in South Korea. Approximate location 35.44563, 129.34193.
RefinerySouth KoreaCO₂ estimate (modelled)
S-Oil Onsan Refinery is a refinery in South Korea. Its listed capacity is 519,000 BBL per day. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery. It is operated by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. By capacity it ranks #3 among 9 oil refineries in South Korea. It emits about 6,196,517 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 4.0% of the CO₂e from the 51 facilities in South Korea that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 39% above the national median for this sector.
Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-712515.
Data status
Known source data
Calculated from the dataset
Not available
Source data, measured cross-checks and calculated values are kept separate. No confidence percentage is invented.
Similar facilities by modelled emissions
- Motiva Port Arthur Refinery · 6,114,111 t CO₂e/yr · United States
- Marathon Garyville Refinery · 5,993,065 t CO₂e/yr · United States
- Petrobras REPLAN Paulinia Refinery · 5,906,505 t CO₂e/yr · Brazil
- Nayara Vadinar Oil Refinery · 5,875,410 t CO₂e/yr · India
- Exxonmobil Beaumont Refinery · 5,818,702 t CO₂e/yr · United States
Same Climate TRACE subsector; closest non-placeholder modelled CO₂e values. Russia and Belarus excluded.
Operating power plants within 50 km
- Onsan Smelter power station · Gas · 314 MW · 3 km
- Ulsan · Oil · 3,000 MW · 5 km
- Ulsan Hanju power station · Gas · 299 MW · 5 km
- Ulsan GPS power station · Gas · 1,122 MW · 5 km
- Yeongnam · Coal · 400 MW · 8 km
PowerAtlas operating assets, ordered by great-circle distance from published coordinates.
In context: how this facility compares
At 519,000 BBL per day, S-Oil Onsan Refinery is well above the median refinery in South Korea (256,000 BBL per day). Subsector: oil-and-gas-refining. As refinery, it requires high process heat (typically 200–600°C) for its core industrial operations, supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.
Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.
What 6,196,517 t CO₂e a year looks like
This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:
Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.
Carbon cost and Scope 1 emissions
At its reported 6.2M t CO₂e/yr (Scope 1), S-Oil Onsan Refinery carries no domestic carbon price, and its products are not CBAM-covered goods, so there is no border-carbon liability. At the EU ETS reference price (€75/t) the emissions carry an indicative carbon value of €467M/yr.
Carbon price: EU CBAM €75/t · EU ETS €85/t, September 10, 2026, refreshed live via Carbon Hub. CO₂: Climate TRACE. Indicative carbon value, not the cash bill — free allocation applies; not compliance advice.
Capacity vs largest oil refineries in South Korea
Listed capacity (BBL per day), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).
Operator
Operated by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. All facilities by this operator →
Local climate
S-Oil Onsan Refinery sits in a humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen Cfa), at 35.4°N in the northern hemisphere.
Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
Site climate & environmental severity
This site sits in a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1356 W/m² to ambient — roughly 1.04× the loss at a 20 °C reference. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
How it compares & nearby sites
The #3 largest of 9 oil refineries in South Korea by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).
Nearby industrial sites
- KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan · Petrochemical · 1,220,591 t CO₂
- S-Oil Onsan Condensate Splitter · Refinery · 470,625 t CO₂
- S-Oil Ulsan, Ulsan · Petrochemical
- Moorim Paper Co. Ltd - Moorim P&P · Pulp & Paper Mill · 135,954 t CO₂
- SK geo centric, Ulsan · Petrochemical · 1,166,343 t CO₂
- SK Ulsan Refinery · Refinery · 7,295,436 t CO₂
Location
Coordinates 35.44563, 129.34193. View on OpenStreetMap.
Frequently asked questions
What type of facility is S-Oil Onsan Refinery?
S-Oil Onsan Refinery is a refinery in South Korea. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.
What capacity is listed for S-Oil Onsan Refinery?
The open dataset lists 519,000 BBL per day of capacity for S-Oil Onsan Refinery.
How much CO₂ does S-Oil Onsan Refinery emit?
The page uses about 6,196,517 t CO₂e/year from the open dataset It ranks #6 among facilities in South Korea by estimated CO₂.
Where is S-Oil Onsan Refinery located?
S-Oil Onsan Refinery is in South Korea at approximately 35.44563, 129.34193.
Who operates S-Oil Onsan Refinery?
The operator recorded in the open dataset is Saudi Arabian Oil Co.