Daewoo E&C Pulls Big One

Company wins $1.17 bln oil refinery expansion project in Abu Dhabi, thanks to its glowing reputation in the Middle East region

Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. clinched an oil refinery expansion project worth $1.17 billion from Takreer Co., an affiliate of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. The mammoth project is officially named the Ruwais Refinery Expansion Project Package 4 Tankage.
The oil refinery is located some 250 km west of Abu Dhabi in the Ruwais Petrochemical Complex, and the project involves the construction of 76 oil storage tanks in the complex on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, the company said recently.
The company said it continues to win such large oil storage construction projects due to the recognition of its superb skills backed up by high-level technologies in building huge oil and gas storage tanks in such countries as Nigeria, Libya and Qatar on an EPC basis including an oil tank 98 meters in diameter, the company said.
Daewoo Construction has been able to enter the United Arab Emirates successfully thanks to its widely recognized construction know-how in the Middle East and has been able to clinch a number of huge projects involving plant facilities construction coming out of the UAE, which now has become a major construction market for Daewoo in addition to Libya, Nigeria and Algieria, the company said.
Daewoo Construction won another oil tank construction project worth $270 million from Takreer Co. involving the construction of 16 oil and gas tanks at the Mussafah Oil Refinery on May 3 on an EPC basis. The project is targeted for completion in November 2012, bringing the value of the company’s UAE projects won to $1.44 billion.
The company’s winning of the oil tank project at the Mussafah refinery following those at the Ruwais Industrial Complex was to have bolstered its position to win more plant construction projects in the UAE.
Daewoo aims to win $4.5 billion in overseas construction project orders this year by expanding its overseas market to Eastern Europe and South America.
In addition, the company won a gas pipeline construction project worth 200 billion won in Nigeria, recently laying 100 km of pipelines with a completion target of 25 months, the company said.
The pipeline is to link Warri in the Delta region to the Utorogu gas plant in Ughelli East for Shell Petroleum Development Co., a joint venture firm between Shell and National Nigerian Oil Co. of Nigeria.
Daewoo first entered Nigeria in 1978 and completed 49 projects worth $4.5 billion over 30 years. The company is now engaged in five projects including the Baran-Ubi oil and gas development project and the AFAM thermal power plant construction project in Nigeria.
The company expects to win more contracts as the Nigerian government will issue additional orders as part its plan to give priority to supplying gas to domestic customers first and build more pipelines, gas treatment facilities, and gas power plants in line with the plan, the company said.
In the meantime, Daewoo Construction won projects to build new barracks for the Third Airborne Special Forces and the relocation of the Special Forces Command, beating its rivals in an open bid, the company said recently.
The project is worth 400 billion won involving the construction and relocation of the two military facilities to Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, from their current barracks in Seoul to make room for Wirae City to be built on the site surrounding the ancient Baekje remains, which include the remnants of the walls of a castle discovered in recent years. The Kingdom of Baekje was destroyed by the Silla Kingdom in the 7th century. The site where the new military barracks will be built is some 3.55 million square meters in area and the buildings will take up 172,000 square meters.
The company has yet to go through the bidding process, but it’s a shoe in for Daewoo as it already has beaten out others for the design contract, the other part of the bidding for the project.
The project is to be awarded to the bid winner on a turnkey basis. In the design bidding, Daewoo scored 86.11 points, the top among the five contenders, followed by GS Construction with 82.99 points and Daelim Industrial with 82.43 points, and two others. nw

(from Left) President Seo Jong-wook of Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co., right, and his counterpart from Takreer Co. sign an agreement on the Ruwais Oil Refinery Expansion Project Package 4 Tankage in Abu Dhabi, worth $1.17 billion. President Seo Jong-wook of Daewoo E&C.