Business Agreement for the Development of ICT-Integrated 'Platform-Based Future Gas Stations (Smart Stations)'
S-Oil Pushes to Apply KT's 'Connected Car Commerce' Solution to Gas Stations and Smartphone Apps

KT and S-Oil announced on the 1st that they signed a business agreement for the development of a platform-based future gas station (Smart Station) at the KT Gwanghwamun Building East in Jongno-gu, Seoul on May 31.

KT and S-Oil plan to develop future-type gas stations that provide differentiated services to customers using S-Oil gas stations by utilizing KT's technological capabilities and know-how in ICT fields such as platforms, IoT, big data, and energy.

Key areas of cooperation include ▲ innovation of gas station operating platforms incorporating the Internet of Things, ▲ improvement of gas station ICT infrastructure, ▲ derivation of efficient gas station operation strategies through big data linkage and analysis, and ▲ establishment of a differentiated marketing platform to expand individual and corporate customers.

Through this agreement, S-Oil plans to apply KT's 'Connected Car Commerce' solution to gas stations and smartphone apps. The connected car commerce solution is a service where the vehicle itself acts as a credit card, enabling automatic payments without a physical card.

With this solution, customers visiting S-Oil gas stations can use the app to access everything from fueling information to payment more quickly and conveniently than existing services, and operators of S-Oil’s approximately 2,400 gas stations can easily manage their establishments.

In addition, KT plans to support improvements in gas station operations as well as environmental improvements by utilizing platform-based solutions such as IoT electronic displays, GigaEyes, and Giga Energy Manager (K-MEG), as well as big data analysis capabilities including pedestrian traffic and commercial area analysis.

Going forward, KT and S-Oil plan to develop new automotive business models by combining their respective capabilities, such as 5G, enterprise LTE, Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), connected cars, and know-how regarding the refueling market, in preparation for the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Park Bong-soo, Head of Operations at S-Oil, stated, “We expect that the partnership with KT will enhance convenience for customers and operators of S-Oil gas stations and charging stations. Furthermore, we believe that the establishment of a marketing platform and the upgrade of gas stations will be a good opportunity for S-Oil to prepare for the upcoming future of automobiles.”

“We are pleased to be able to integrate KT’s new ICT technologies into S-Oil’s implementation of a platform-based Smart Station,” said Koo Hyun-mo, Head of Management Planning at KT. “By combining KT’s solution know-how with S-Oil’s nationwide gas station infrastructure and operational know-how, this will be an opportunity to discover new solutions that lead the oil refining industry.”