Builders in high demand overseas

Overseas industrial plant construction orders won by Korean companies surged in the first five months of the year fueled by strong demand from oil exporters, the government said yesterday.
As of late May, companies like Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction secured orders worth $15 billion, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said. This is a gain of 72 percent from the $8.7 billion worth of contracts won in the same five-month period in 2006.
Of the total, $8.2 billion was won from Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with another $2.8 billion secured from Asian countries. Orders from the Middle East jumped 2.6 times on an annual basis.
The ministry said orders for combined power-desalination plants jumped 530 percent to $5.6 billion, with contracts for petrochemical plants rising 88 percent to $4.5 billion. “A rise in crude prices and demand for new ocean-going drill ships by major oil companies like Shell and BP have contributed to the skyrocketing of global demand,” said Cha Dong-hyung, head of the ministry’s export and import division.
He added that 78 percent of the orders secured so far involved contracts exceeding $400 million.
The ministry said earlier in the year that Korean companies are expected to clinch $30 billion worth of orders, a noticeable gain from the record $25.4 billion in orders in 2006.