Hyundai E&C grabs $5 billion Aramco deal to build petrochemical complex

[Photo provided by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]

South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. has won a contract to build Saudi Arabia’s largest petrochemical complex, raising hopes for a recovery in overseas orders from the Middle East.

Hyundai Engineering announced on Saturday that it has signed a contract for Package 1 for a ethylene production facility and Package 4 for utility infrastructure of the $5 billion Amiral petrochemical complex with Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco. The signing ceremony was held at Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran.

The Amiral project is the largest petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia, commissioned by Aramco. It is located in Jubail, 70 kilometers northwest of Dammam, the center of Saudi Arabia’s oil fields. The Amiral project is the seventh-largest project ever won by a Korean company overseas, after the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Karbala refinery project in Iraq.

The achievement is seen as a result of the agreement reached during a summit meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, in November last year. The two countries agreed to develop their relationship into a future-oriented strategic partnership and promote large-scale economic cooperation in the infrastructure sector.

“The contract will not only solidify the economic cooperation between the two countries but also serve as a firm foundation for both countries to prosper together,” Yoon said on Sunday, regarding the contract.

Presidential spokesman Lee Do-woon said in a statement that “this is the largest project a Korean company has won in Saudi Arabia among all the projects awarded so far,” adding that the project is an additional achievement that was not included in the $40 billion memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Korea in November.

Thanks to this project, Hyundai E&C has surpassed its overseas construction order of $12 billion won last year by recording at least $13.7 billion in the first half of this year alone.