SK Ulsan Refinery — South Korea

SK Ulsan Refinery is a refinery in South Korea. Its listed capacity is 781,000 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 SK Inc. By capacity it ranks #1 among 9 oil refineries in South Korea. It emits about 7,295,436 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 4.8% of the CO₂e from the 51 facilities in South Korea that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 9% above the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-1753673.

In context: how this facility compares

At 781,000 BBL per day, SK Ulsan 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 7,295,436 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.

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 SK Inc. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

SK Ulsan Refinery sits in a humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen Cfa), at 35.5°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 #1 largest of 9 oil refineries in South Korea by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• SK geo centric, Ulsan · Petrochemical · 1,166,343 t CO₂
• KPIC Onsan Plant, Ulsan · Petrochemical · 1,220,591 t CO₂
• S-Oil Ulsan, Ulsan · Petrochemical
• S-Oil Onsan Refinery · Refinery · 6,196,517 t CO₂
• S-Oil Onsan Condensate Splitter · Refinery · 470,625 t CO₂
• Moorim Paper Co. Ltd - Moorim P&P · Pulp & Paper Mill · 135,954 t CO₂

Location

Coordinates 35.50091, 129.34926. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions