Top shipbuilder bags lucrative offshore contract from Japan

Samsung Heavy Industries said yesterday it has received a letter of agreement to build an offshore facility for around $2.26 billion.

Under the agreement with Inpex of Japan, the shipbuilder will construct the offshore gas processing facility by the end of 2015, the company said.

Both sides will officially sign the deal this month, the company said.

“The value of the order is expected to reach up to 3 trillion won [$2.6 billion] when a deal to build related facilities is taken into consideration,” said an official at Samsung Heavy.

The facility, 110 meters (360 feet) wide, is expected to become the world’s largest offshore plant once it is built, Samsung Heavy said.

Shares of the company closed at 33,700 won on the Seoul bourse, up 3.5 percent.

French supermajor Total and Inpex are working on a $34 billion liquefied natural gas project in Australia. Yonhap