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Panoramic view of S-OIL headquarters building. / S-OIL

S-OIL is expanding venture investments to secure future technologies, including industrial AI and next-generation batteries. Rather than pursuing simple financial investments, the refiner focuses on proactively identifying companies whose technologies can enhance the efficiency of refining and petrochemical facilities and translate into future business opportunities.

S-OIL announced on the 4th that it continues to make strategic investments in promising venture firms across industrial AI, energy, and battery sectors to bolster the competitiveness of its existing operations and uncover new growth opportunities.

S-OIL invested a combined 2 billion won in OnePredict, an AI-based industrial predictive diagnostics solution provider, across 2019 and 2020, and currently holds an approximate 5% stake. By leveraging OnePredict's predictive maintenance technology, S-OIL predicts anomaly signs, failure risks, and remaining useful life for critical plant assets—including rotating machinery, piping, and transformers—thereby working to prevent operational downtime and cut maintenance costs. OnePredict is recently expanding its business footprint, having selected Mirae Asset Securities as its lead underwriter to pursue a special technology listing on the stock exchange in the first quarter of 2027.

In addition, S-OIL invested a total of 2.5 billion won in flexible lithium-ion battery maker LiBEST in 2019 and 2021, securing an approximate 6% stake. LiBEST has recently entered partial mass production of high-power, high-energy-density cells applied in aviation batteries, and secured an additional 10 billion won in funding this year from existing investor UNID.

An S-OIL official remarked, "Venture investment is a strategic avenue extending beyond simple financial gains to proactively grasp the fast-shifting industrial landscape and future technologies while identifying new business opportunities," adding, "We will consistently explore investment and collaboration opportunities to elevate the competitiveness of our core business and secure technologies in fields with high future growth potential."

                                                                                                          Lee Seo-yeon