GS E&C On the Move

The company to continue to maintain position as top builder in terms of sales

GS Engineering and Construction Co. won an order to build a methanol plant in Oman worth $721 million from Shallala Methanol Co., the company said recently.
The plant will be built in the Shallala region some 1,000 km from Muscat cable of producing 3,000 tons of methanol from natural gas as raw material and the Korean builder will take charge of all phases of the project ranging from designing, purchasing, construction and to test-runs. The project is targeted to be completed in February, 2010, the company said.
GS E&C won the order to build polypropylene plant in Oman worth $180 million in 2004, which was followed by the project to build an aromatics plant also in Oman worth $1.210 billion. This would be the third project that the company won in Oman and is considered an important step as Oman is building a infrastructure of its petrochemical industry based on natural gas as its futuristic growth engine.
GS E&C won many awards recently. In December last year,
the company wan the Financial Reform Enterprise Award presented by the Korea CFO Association, followed by Top Asia Management Award from Asia Money, a popular financial magazine in Asia, and the company's CEO Hur Myeong-soo won the top award in the 2006 CFO Grand Prize, presented by the Korea CFO Association.
On March 5, he won the Gold Industry Award, the top award for taxpayers, which is significant in view of the fact that many construction firms came under tax scrutiny for possible tax evasion connected with their apartment sales.
The company has recorded top sales in the industry for two years in a row
President Hur who was promoted to the CEO early in the year, said he will try to expand sales and improve the company's financial structure and thus boost the company's value.
Hur said the company will shoot for 10.440 trillion won in orders and 6.5 trillion won in sales this year with operating profit of 470 billion won, up from 400 billion won last year. Operating profit will rise this year because the company will work on saving costs and winning high value-added projects to
increase operating profit to 7.2 percent from 7 percent last year.
The company plans to expand overseas operations because it is the important way to secure profit resources and sustainable growth bases. The company will go after plants, civil and environmental projects. The Vietnamese project will formally get underway and the company will set up its strategies for each country and conclude tie-ups with foreign construction firms.
GS E & C has become one of world-class EPC(engineering, procurement, and construction) contractors, specializing in the fields of plant industries. Areas of its experts cover oil refineries, gas processing plants, petrochemical plants, power plants, and environmental projection facilities.
The GS E&C carried out a number of oil refinery projects at home including CDUs/VDUs and RFCCs for GS Caltex Oil and S-Oil. The company broke into overseas markets in the early 1990s and has achieved remarkable performances in the plant construction industry since then. The track record to date encompasses a refinery for Azerpetrochim in Azerbaijian, condensate splitter plants and LBCs for TPI in Thailand, a RFCC for CPC in Taiwan, a gas oil desulphurization unit for KNPC in Kuwait, a catalytic de-waxing plant for IOCL in India, and a $700 million QP Refinery expansion in Qatar. The company has also achieved success in gas processing facilities, a new strategic business area. Projects completed so far include the LPG terminal at Incheon, Korea and Shantu, China. Moreover, the company recently received a $1.6 billion order from the Iranian state-run oil company, NIOC, for gas processing facilities(phases 9 & 10) at the South Pars gas field, Iran. A firm foundation is now in place for stable growth in this new field.
The company has a high reputation for its petrochemical plant construction expertise, thanks to the advanced technology and know-how acquired from long experience. In Korea, the company has completed an ethylene/propylene plant for LG Petrochemical a polypropylene/BTX plant for LG-Caltex Oil, and a polypropylene plant in Indonesia, and VCM plant for TPC in Thailand, polyamide/polypropylene plant in Indonesia, and VCM/PVC plant in Saudi Arabia (the largest ever built at the time in the world). Recently, new orders have been received for LAB plant from ICIIC and Acetic Acid plant from NPC in Iran. nw

GS Engineering & Construction Co. Chairman
Hur Chang-soo

LG Polycarbonate Plant built by GS E & C in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province.

TPC-VCM Plant built by GS E & C in Thailand.