Hyundai Heavy signs $1.6 bln deal to build offshore oil platform

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder, said Thursday it has signed a US$1.6 billion deal for an offshore platform construction project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The deal with the UAE's Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co. (ADMA-OPCO), a state-run oil and gas producer, calls for Hyundai Heavy to build three offshore oil platforms and pipelines in the Um Shaif oil and gas reserve in the Persian Gulf by 2010 to produce 300,000 barrels of oil and 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily. Hyundai Heavy said it is a first time for the UAE, the fourth-largest oil producer of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to place an order with a foreign company. Sales of Hyundai Heavy and other South Korean shipbuilders have increased sharply this year as global shipping lines ordered more vessels to carry oil, gas and other products. Hyundai Heavy's sales increased 19 percent in the first 11 months of the year to 11.25 trillion won (US$12.14 billion).