Overview
- Prosecutors announced on Monday that they indicted HD Hyundai Oilbank, SK Energy, GS Caltex and S‑Oil and arrested HD Hyundai Oilbank’s pricing division chief as part of the case.
- Investigators say pricing managers at HD Hyundai Oilbank and SK Energy agreed on the timing and size of hikes that prosecutors value at about 14.2 trillion won while GS Caltex and S‑Oil followed those moves to create a wider 26 trillion won market impact.
- The office also charged the four refiners with using exclusive purchasing contracts to pressure independent gas stations into matching their planned price increases.
- Two company officials and a GS Caltex domestic sales executive face indictments without detention and prosecutors say some executives deleted documents during a KFTC on‑site inspection.
- The case could trigger heavy fines under new KFTC rules and broader legal tests over explicit collusion versus conscious parallel pricing, and the next developments to watch are formal court filings and prosecutor statements clarifying leniency use for SK Energy.