SKEC Gunning for Big Projects

Company gets a string of project orders in Abu Dhabi and Singapore to build gas plants and subway lines

SK Engineering and Construction Co. clinched a project to build three compressed gas plants for $820 million from Abu Dhabi Company for Offshore Oil Operations. President Choi Kwang-chol signed the contract with his counterpart at the Abu Dhabi oil company, Abdul Kindy, on June 13 at the oil company's headquarters building in Abu Dhabi.
The project involves the construction of three gas compression plants in the Habshan region of Abu Dhabi, a turnkey project to be completed in 37 months. The plants will produce 6.4 million cubic meters of gas daily and pipe it to the refinery plant.
SK Construction officials said the project in Abu Dhabi is significant for their company as it is located in the UAE and not in Kuwait, the traditional construction market for their company in the Middle East, strengthening the company's global competitive power.
The company also won the 915 project district of the second stage construction of the Downtown Line of the MRT ordered by the Singapore Land Transport Authority on June 2. The project is worth 230 million Singapore dollars and has put the company in a good position to win additional stages of the main project.
The 915 project district is designed to build an underground tunnel linking the Beauty World Station and the Hillview Station in the northwest area, which is the second stage work on the Downtown Line of the Singapore Subway system. The company will build a double track tunnel with a tunnel boring machine method 2.3 km long, a launching shaft and eight cross passages, among others, to be completed in April 2013, before the completion of the entire project in July 2015.
SK Construction has an excellent record for building railroads, as it took part in the construction of the KTX high-speed rail in Korea and part of its support facilities, as well as for subways. The company has accumulated tons of experience for the TBM method to build tunnels and underground waterways. The company also built underground oil storage facilities in Korea, getting valuable experience for tunnel and underground space construction.
In the meantime, SK Engineering and Construction Co. secured a construction project from Al Tamouh Investment Co. in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to build four buildings on Al Reem Island in Abu Dhabi on March 3 worth $373 million, the company announced March 5.
The four buildings to be used for residential, commercial space and offices will be built on the C-13 block of the island with a total space of 17,646 square meters. They range from 31 to 51 stories high and are targeted to be completed in 2011, the company said. SK Construction has been able to strengthen its overseas project portfolio by adding the building construction project to plants and other construction projects. The company secured an undersea tunnel construction project in Turkey on a turnkey basis, and a hydro-power dam project in Laos last year to diversify its overseas construction project portfolio. The company has overseas projects in such areas as plant, civil and construction, becoming a top-tier construction firm overseas.
Director Oh Jin-won in charge of the Overseas Project Headquarters, said the company has strengthened its ability to face any kind of difficult conditions imposed by the slumping world economy by diversifying its construction portfolio.
The Al Reem Island project is the biggest construction project for the company since its venture abroad and the company will continue to make efforts to secure similar overseas projects. The Al Reem Island project is a core project to make Abu Dhabi, a key city in the Middle East, part of the $30 billion super-scale plan to develop the island. Three large real estate developers in the UAE have given the rights to take charge of each sector of the mammoth project and Al Tamouh is in charge of the largest sector of the project to develop the island with a total space of 3.6 million square meters, the company said. In the meantime, SK Construction has secured the project to repair an oil refinery in Ecuador from Petroecuador, the national oil company of the South American nation, for $76 million, the company said on Feb. 18.
Esmeraldas refinery, located in north of the Esmeraldas region inside the Petro-industrial Complex, is capable of producing 110,000 barrels of oil daily. The oil refinery initially produced 55,000 barrels of oil when it first went online in 1977, but it was later expanded to the current capacity through two expansions, once in 1987 and the other in 1997, the company said. nw

SK Construction officials and officials of the Abu Dhabi Company for Offshore Oil Operations pose for a photo session after signing the contract for BAB Gas Compression Project in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.