S.Korea & UAE sign economic agreement

Saudi Arabia

The United Arab Emirates has entered into an enhanced economic cooperation agreement with South Korea that will be signed to mark their 30-year relationship anniversary next year, whilst also signing over a huge oil refinery construction project to a major South Korean energy firm.

South Korea's GS Engineering and Construction will expand capacity of its oil refinery facilities at Ruwais in a deal worth US$3.6 billion. The order is the biggest-ever won by a single South Korean company for plant construction, and the company have confirmed that they have been ordered by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. to complete construction by February 2014.

The oil refinery deal is part of a larger plan to expand refinery facilities in Ruwais, about 250 km (156 miles) west of Abu Dhabi. It aims to raise capacity by 417,000 barrels per day.

Ensuring a secure energy future

Elsewhere, Samsung Engineering have announced it has signed a US$2.73 billion order in connection with the Ruwais project while SK Engineering and Construction announced a 2.1 billion dollar deal.

The enhanced economic cooperation agreement was signed alongside a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate in nuclear power and renewable energy sectors, a statement from the South Korean presidential Blue House said.

"To celebrating the 30-year relation anniversary, both countries have made efforts to expand the bilateral cooperation to overall economic areas and establish (a) long-term, companion cooperating relationship," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in a statement.

This latest activity are indicative of the UAE's ambitious energy plans to not only ensure a more secure energy future for its people, but also make the Gulf state a more formidable force in the global market as attention increasingly shifts to alternative energy.

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Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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