Employees of the Korean refining company Hyundai Oilbank will receive a bonus of 1,000% of their basic salary in 2022, after achieving high profits in 2022, The Herald Korea reported.
Korea Economic Daily said that the prize was awarded on December 30, 2022.
The Korean company did not disclose the specific amount of money given to employees.
The Korean Herald added that in 2021, Hyundai Oilbank paid employees an average of 121 million won (95,176 USD), including bonuses equal to 600% of the basic salary of employees.
Hyundai Oilbank recorded a profit of 2.8 trillion won (US$2.2 billion) in the third quarter of 2022, up 226% over the same period in 2021 - when the profit was 851.6 billion won (US$670 million), according to Korea Economic Daily.
In addition, accumulated profits in 2022 are expected to increase when including profits in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Other Korean refiners such as SK Energy, S-Oil and GS Caltex have yet to decide on the 2022 bonus level.
Previously, in 2022, SK Energy and GS Caltex gave employees 1,000% of their basic salary while S-Oil gave them 1,400%.
However, the Korea Herald quoted an unnamed official from a major Korean refining company as saying that the expected bonus is similar to the Hyundai Oilbank bonus.
An unnamed industry official pointed out that "global momentum" is the main factor that makes oil refining companies profit.
In particular, the prolonged impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the increased demand for heating in winter have caused world oil prices to spike.
Another factor affecting oil prices is the decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners to maintain the policy of cutting oil production to 2 million barrels/day.
