S-Oil Q1 net up 78.3 pct on higher oil prices

By Nam Kwang-sik SEOUL, April 29 (Yonhap)-- S-Oil Corp., South Korea's third-largest refiner, said Friday that its net profit rose 78.3 percent in the first quarter from a year ago thanks to an increase in oil prices. Net profit came to 545.8 billion won (US$508.5 million) in the January-March period, compared with 104.8 billion won during the same period a year earlier, S-Oil said in a statement. Sales rose 12.1 percent on-year to 6.81 trillion won in the period, and operating profit surged 66.6 percent to 646.7 billion won. The figures includes earnings from S-Oil and its subsidiaries.