LARGE KOREAN FIRMS SEEK MEASURES TO COMBAT HIGH OIL PRICES.

SEOUL, Feb 4 Asia Pulse - Large companies in the country have been trying to come up with appropriate measures to cope effectively with high oil prices, business sources said Tuesday.

Most of these firms have been focusing on cutting costs and management reforms, well aware high oil prices would cause them increased energy and raw material expenses, restricting sales of their products.

Top managers of these firms feel the situation has not yet come to a point where they have to touch up their investment and business plans since the oil price is where they thought it would be at this stage. But if it goes up further, they might be forced to think about changing their business plans.

Samsung Group has been focused on holding down costs at the moment because its business plans have been based on the oil price reaching as high as $40 per barrel(Dubai crude).

Samsung is likely to push ahead with its investment plan in the semiconductor, LCD and mobile phone sectors, although it would be flexible toward small and traditional sectors investments.

LG Group, too, is trying to cope with the situation by its affiliates. In the case of LG Chemical (KSE:03550), it plans to hold down its energy-related expenses at the level of 200 billion won, along with plans to recoup wasted heat, saving energy use by rearranging production process using lots of energy, the installation of new production process and management reform.