Hanwha E&C LPG Filling Plant Project from Kuwait

Strives to expand its overseas business portfolios with the goal of being a global top-100 company by 2015

Hanwha Engineering & Construction (E&C) has landed a 230 billion won LPG filling plant project from Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC). A contract for the project was signed by Hanwha E&C President Kim Hyun-chung and KOTC Chairman Nabil M. Bourisli on Sept. 1 at a ceremony at the KOTC head office in Kuwait, which was also attended by Korean Amb. to Kuwait Moon Young-ha.
The deal calls for the construction of six LPG storage tanks, LPG filling plants and auxiliary facilities in Um Al-Aish, 30 km north of Kuwait City. The project, to be implemented under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal, is expected to be completed in 2012. KOTC reportedly gave higher credit to Hanwha’s excellent technology and work execution capability, outbidding five world-class contractors, including ones from Italy, India, France and other countries.
Hanwha’s winning of the project is expected to provide the company with an opportunity to strengthen its presence in the Middle East and African markets following its initial entry into Saudi Arabia in 2007 and successive tapping of the markets in Algeria and Jordan, as well as it having a track record of performance in the value-added gas plant business field. The deal would give Hanwha opportunities to be recognized for its extensive technological capability in the overseas plant engineering sector ranging from overseas power generation and refineries to desalination plants and gas plant engineering.

Kuwait is a resources-rich nation with a 10 percent share of the global crude oil reserves as well as natural gas reserves and is the fourth biggest member country of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In particular, KOTC is the sole state-run company with permission to supply liquefied petroleum gas across Kuwait with its own LPG filling stations in cooperation with its regional business partners. Hanwha’s landing of the project from KOTC will serve as a foundation for landing more orders from the Kuwaiti market where an increasing number of large-sized project orders are forecast to be placed.
Hanwha E&C President Kim said, “Hanwha’s landing of the Kuwait LPG filling plant project will likely not only contribute to stepping up our capability to win orders both in the Kuwaiti market and other Middle Eastern countries, but also serve as an opportunity for us to be recognized for our extensive technological power in a wide range of areas from power generation, refinery and desalination plants to the newly-added gas plant engineering.”
As part of efforts to expand its overseas business horizons, Hanwha E&C has built overall systems in the overseas business division and strengthened capabilities to carry out projects while expanding its global network to not only Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Algeria and Libya, but also Chicago and Hawaii. As a result, in the recent few years, Hanwha E&C won a succession of orders abroad: the $280 million Ma’aden power generation and desalination plant project and a $220 million AAC ethylene plant project from Saudi Arabia, and a $400 million Arzew refinery plant project from Algeria. The Korean contractor, which has a solid foothold in the Middle East and North Africa, landed two overseas plant engineering projects worth almost $1 billion in succession last year ― winning a $750 million Marafiq power generation plant project from Saudi Arabia and a $200 million Samra gas power generation plant project from Jordan.
Hanwha E&C has earned a reputation among procurement companies in the Middle East region by successfully completing the AAC ethylene plant project in Saudi Arabia without a hitch during the first half of this year. Making the most of its foundation in the petrochemical and power plant sectors in the Middle East and North African markets, the company is striving to expand its overseas presence to Southeast Asia and CIS countries and diversify its business portfolios to the architecture and civil engineering fields with the goal of becoming a global top-100 company by 2015. nw

Hanwha E&C President Kim Hyun-chung shakes hands with Kuwait Oil Tanker Company Chairman Nabil M. Bourisli after signing a deal on an LPG filling plant project in Kuwait on Sept. 1.

(left) An artist conception shows the projected KOTC’s LPG filling plant that will house six LPG storage tanks, LPG filling plants and auxiliary facilities in Um Al-Aish.(above) A map of the plant located 30 km north of Kuwait City.

A scene of a ceremony to sign a deal on an LPG filling plant project.