SK Innovation
SK Innovation Co., Ltd. () is an intermediate holding company of SK Group engaged in petroleum, alternative energy, and oil exploration. It runs its business through six major subsidiaries, including SK Energy, SK Geo Centric, SK Lubricants, SK Incheon Petrochem, SK Trading International, and SK IE Technology. History. SK Energy was established in 2007 by splitting South Korea's top refiner SK Corporation into an energy operation and holding company. SK Energy handled the energy and chemical businesses, while SK Holdings was in charge of investing in subsidiaries and the life science sector. SK Innovation was created through a  restructuring of SK Energy in 2011. The original SK Energy has renamed itself SK Innovation after spinning off its oil refining, lubricants, and chemical businesses. In the beginning, SK Innovation has set up three fully-owned units, including SK Energy (a newly founded company operating crude oil refining business), SK Lubricants, and SK Global Chemical. After two years, SK Innovation spun off SK Energy's Incheon refinery complex and oil trading division and launched SK Incheon Petrochem and SK Trading International. In 2019, the company decided to spin off its material division and established SK IE Technology. Controversies. In 2019 , South Korean electric vehicle battery manufacturer LG Chem sued SK Innovation with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) for misappropriation of trade secrets by hiring former employees. LG Chem requested the import ban to the U.S. for SK Innovation's lithium-ion batteries and infrastructure technology from the ITC. After all, the ITC sided with LG Chem and issued a limited 10-year exclusion order prohibiting imports into the United States of some lithium-ion batteries by SK Innovation. However, the ITC allowed SK to import some components for domestic production of lithium-ion batteries to be delivered to Ford  for four years and Volkswagen for two years.