[Sponsored Report] GS E&C plans to enter new markets, industries in 2011

GS E&C completed a linear alkyl benzene plant, above, in Alexandria, Egypt, in 2008.

With a goal of “Balance of Growth and Value Management,” GS Engineering and Construction has a goal of maintaining balance between internal sustainability and growth. In 2011, the company hopes to bring in 16.22 trillion won in orders, 9.04 trillion won in sales and 640 billion won in operating profit. It also has a goal of receiving more than half of the year’s target from overseas.

To prepare, GS E&C has reorganized its overseas business management and is seeking diversification in its business fields and overseas markets.

The Chief Global Officer (CGO) will oversee overseas activities and support projects, and GS E&C will reinforce overseas offices and localization. In civil engineering and construction, which were weak in overseas advancement, a business department under the CGO will provide support. GS E&C has also ordered each business department to expand its overseas business field and reinforce weak areas.

GS E&C’s overseas business will shift focus from plant construction to include civil engineering, development projects and green construction. It also looks to expand into South America and Africa.

Additionally, GS E&C’s plant business is advancing into new fields, such as LNG liquefaction and gasification and nontraditional fields like the oil sand project order it received from Canada in 2010. Last year, GS E&C won the $310 million Canadian project and construction of a gasification facility in Australia worth $2.6 billion.

On April 9, the company secured a project from Kuwait National Petroleum Company for an LPG storage tank worth 620 billion won, the year’s first overseas construction order. In 2008, GS E&C was in charge of the Thailand PTT LNG Project and was the first local company to enter the LNG storage re-gasification field, cementing its status in the gas plant field as the top Korean company.

The gas plant field had been monopolized by a handful of advanced companies from Europe and Japan, with high barriers for entrance. A GS E&C consortium was awarded a $2.2 billion project for a UAE GAS project in July 2009 (GS E&C $1.2 billion). In December 2009, the company secured a $264 million contract for the Oman SNDC gas plant. GS E&C has shown noticeable growth in the gas plant field - a future growth engine.

GS E&C announced that it will reinforce its strategy in LNG liquefaction and other fields and cooperate with advanced companies overseas to focus more on the gas plant industry from an earlier stage. It also seeks to take part in planning/consulting projects and developer-style projects requiring investment and financing.

GS E&C has concluded that, in such a competitive market environment, reinforcing business competitiveness is the top priority. The company is planning to add more speed to its development by reinforcing its business, price, technology competition, project ability, risk management and much more in all fields.