A Nigerian Jackpot
Daewoo E & C kicks off New Year with an order worth $875 million in Nigeria

Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. won a project worth $875 million in Nigeria, the company announced recently. The project, the largest single one for the company since its participation in overseas construction market, makes up about 70 percent of total overseas project orders last year amounting to $1.25 billion and involves the construction of oil and gas production facilities with the capacities to produce 120,000 barrels of refined oil a day and 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
The project will be based on the Engineering, Procurement and Construction method, requiring the company to take charge of all aspects of construction ranging from design, construction and test-run. The facilities, ordered by the Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd., will be able to produce 5.4 percent of oil consumed in Nigeria and 24 percent of natural gas used in the African country.
Daewoo E & C secured a total of $3 billion in construction projects over 52 cases of work since it entered the African country in 1980. A company official said Daewoo was able to win the recognition for its technical capability by conducting projects in rough terrains in Nigeria including work on laying pipelines and building plants to show off what the company can do. "We plan on continuing our work to penetrate the plant construction market in West Africa with the success in Nigeria as a base,"the official said.
In the meantime, the company clinched an order to build a combined cycle power plant in Nigeria from SPDC worth some 500 billion won. The project involves the construction of a power plant with three gas turbines, and a steam turbine capable of generating 650 Mw of power in the Afam region some 350 km of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
The Nigerian government plans to build many more power plants in the country because the current power plants can only meet 40 percent of total demand for power in the country, which is not enough to back up the development of national industrial projects and upgrade the livelihood for people. Daewoo E & C has been put in a good position to win additional orders by clinching the Afam power plant project and when the project is completed successfully. President Park Sei-hoom visited Nigerian President Obasanjo on November 28 last year at his office in Abuja. The Nigerian head of state thanked President Park at the meeting for taking charge of various construction projects to not only improve the livelihood of the people and but also introducing advanced construction technologies by undertaking a number of large projects on a successful note in his country. The Nigerian president hoped that Daewoo E & C would play a even bigger role in his country's development. President Park told the Nigerian president that his company is ready to try to complete its projects in the African country successfully all the time to support Nigeria's economic development.
In the meantime, the company is targeted to secure orders totaling 8.5 trillion won this year with operating profit of 532.8 billion won on sales of 5.5 trillion won on its way to be a top builder in the country.
The company's orders last year totaled 8.19 trillion won, up 46.4 percent from the previous year with total sales amounting to 5.7 trillion won, up 6.2 percent from the preceding year. Its net profit amounted to 409.8 billion won, up 65.4 percent from 2004 due to reduction of financial expenses through the repayment of debts and the collection of construction proceeds owed by Iraq for a long time. The company's debt ratio fell from 152 percent at the end of 2004 to 130 percent at the end of last year.
Daewoo E & C will continue to secure a sound base for winning orders overseas through the stable management of all aspects of construction including civil engineering, construction, plant, housing and others with the expansion in investment in civil engineering projects and plant construction projects. nw

Daewoo E & C President Park Sei-hoom shakes hands with head of the Shell Petroleum Development Co., which ordered the huge project to Daewoo E & C.