Hyundai E&C wins a 2.45-billion-dollar construction deal in Iraq

Hyundai Engineering & Construction (E&C) has won a deal to build a plant in Iraq, marking the construction firm’s first overseas deal this year.

Hyundai E&C said on Wednesday that it signed a 2.45-billion-dollar deal to build a seawater processing plant with the government-owned Basra Oil Company in Iraq. Generally, a certain amount of water needs to be injected into the well in order to increase oil production. Hyundai E&C will build a facility that can purify 5 million barrels of seawater a day for the oilfields in the southern state of Basra. The construction of the facility is expected to take 49 months and the start date of the construction has not been confirmed yet.

South Korea’s special envoy sent to Iraq in January this year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the two countries’ diplomatic ties has played a big part in winning the deal. Hyundai E&C Vice Chairman Chung Jin-haeng, who accompanied the special envoy in January, has played an important role as well. Since the launch of its business in Iraq in 1977, Hyundai E&C had achieved deals worth 7 billion dollars, including the Karbala refinery project, in the Arab nation until 2014.

“The mutual trust built over the course of two wars in Iraq has played a major role in winning the deal,” said Hyundai E&C. “We will continue our efforts to win reconstruction deals in Iraq, including refinery plants, power plants, and housing construction.


Jae-Myung Park jmpark@donga.com