Hyundai Heavy Industries is now conducting US$17 billion worth of onshore and offshore plant projects in 19 countries with an aim to reach US$8.6 billion in 2011, a 70% increase from the previous year
Based on technologies and experience accumulated in the shipbuilding sector, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) joined the plant industry in 1978. Since then, it has been manufacturing and establishing offshore oil and natural gas production facilities in various regions, including South-East Asia, India, the Middle East, North America, Africa, and Australia. It has also been carrying out activities on a turnkey basis, covering everything from designing onshore and offshore steel structures to testing a commercial run of it.
The company designed the world’s largest steel jacket offshore oil platform, weighing 40,000 tons, for the US oil company EXXON in 1989, as well as the world’s biggest jack-up offshore oil platform for the UK oil producer BPH in 1995. Furthermore, HHI embarked on the modification of a floating, production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) for Brazilian state enterprise Petrobras in 1996, and is scheduled to deliver the USAN FPSO with a storage capacity of 2 million barrels of oil in April 2011.
HHI has a 60% share of the plant market following completion of 7 out of 11 supersized FPSO (with a storage capacity of over 2 million barrels) installation projects made so far around the world, and was awarded the “World-class Product” certification by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in 2005.
With its first successful performance of a high value-added technical plant project in 1975, HHI obtained the quality certification from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASEM) in 1980, the first Korean company to do so. Since then, it has been conducting numerous projects on a turnkey basis, covering design, manufacturing, installation, and commercial run both at home and overseas.
In 2006, HHI signed a contract to build a large gas-to-liquids plant worth 1.7 trillion won with the multinational oil company Shell, the largest construction project won by Korean companies at that time.
Using the technologies and experience it gained in the steel-making sector, HHI has played a pivotal role in steel mill construction by manufacturing and establishing raw material processing equipment, consecutive cast units, steelmaking facilities, and rolling equipment for the Pohang and Gwangyang steel mills. In addition, it is designing the main equipment for the Kori Nuclear Power Plant, the desulfurization device for thermoelectric power plants in Taean and Hadon, petrochemical unit, desalination equipment, and incineration unit.
Furthermore, HHI was selected as a vacuum vessel main body and port manufacturer for an International Thermon-uclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, in which 7 countries are jointly working together for the development of nuclear fusion energy. In 2007, the company designed ultra high vacuum vessels, extreme low temperature vessels, superconducting magnetic structures for the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) equipment and installed them at the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI).
HHI is currently conducting onshore and offshore plant projects worth US$17 billion in 18 countries, including Nigeria, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Middle East, the world’s biggest plant market. At these construction sites, approximately 18,000 Korean and local employees are fulfilling their duties.
Above all, HHI is striving to do its best in the Middle East plant market and is currently involved in approximately US$10 billion worth of construction projects in 10 locations in 5 countries in the Middle East; Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
Meanwhile, HHI won its first plant project in 2011 in the Middle East. On January 11, it succeeded in signing a contract to build a large offshore plant worth 1 trillion won with Qatar.
HHI plans to push itself hard to win more bids in the plant sector in 2011. This year’s goal in the onshore and offshore plant sector is to earn US$8.6 billion, a 70% rise from the previous year and more than three times higher than US$2.8 billion, its goal for 2006.
This year’s sales target in the plant sector is 6.92 trillion won, a 14% increase from 2010. This figure accounts for approximately 26% of HHI’s expected sales profit for 2011.