GS Caltex held a ceremony for the completion of the hydrogen fuel station, with a total floor space of 522 square meters at Yonsei University’s Shinchon Campus, with some 200 dignitaries attending.

Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Kim Young-ju, GS Caltex Chairman & CEO Hur Dong-soo and Yonsei University President Jung Chang-young were also present at the completion ceremony.

``We will continue to do this business with a sense of duty, though we cannot expect much profit from it,’’ Hur told reporters. Some 8.5 billion won ($9.1 million), including four billion won of government money, was invested in the construction of the station.

Located just beside the main road leading to Yeonhi-dong, Seodaemun-gu, the new filling station, where hydrogen is produced and stored in a high-pressure chamber, will be used for fuel cell motor vehicles.

South Korea's first hydrogen fueling station opened in August last year at the Korea Institute of Energy Research in Daejeon.

Hyundai Motor and research institutes have so far only been able to conduct test-drives of hydrogen motor vehicles in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, due to the lack of refilling stations in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE).

Since 1999, when Ford and Air Products set up the first hydrogen station in North America in Michigan, filling stations offering hydrogen have been opening worldwide. As of 2006, the number of hydrogen stations is estimated at around 150.

South Korea plans to put a dozen more hydrogen stations into operation on a trial basis until the end of this year and increase the number to 34 until the end of next year, according to the MOCIE.

Beside GS Caltex, other major refiners including SK Energy have also been engaged in the hydrogen project, managed by the National RD&D Organization for Hydrogen & Fuel Cell and supported by the MOCIE and the Korea Energy Management Corporation.

In the meantime, Hur expected that his company would see a ``synergic effect’’ if it could undertake Hyundai Oilbank from the Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), the largest shareholder of the oil refiner.

In the meantime, Hur expects his company will see a ``synergy effect’’ if it could takeover Hyundai Oilbank from the Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), the largest shareholder of the oil refiner.