A bird’s eye-view of the Mozambique LNG Area 1 Project, to be implemented by Daewoo E&C.

Daewoo E&C won an LNG liquefaction complex project in Mozambique, the contractor said on Dec. 23.

The Mozambique LNG Area 1 Project calls for building two LNG liquefaction trains with an annual production capacity of 6.4 million tons and auxiliary facilities.

Daewoo E&C will be responsible for the construction of the “Process Area,” such as steel structures, mechanics, piping works, electronics instruments.

Seven companies, including the global petroleum company Total of France and Mozambique’s state-run gas company, are involved in the project. Its construction period is 33 months. Mozambique, located in southeastern African, boasts of rich coal reserves ranking ninth in the world.

The World Bank Group sees a potential of great economic spillover effects from Mozambique’s natural gas development, so additional orders on the construction of multiple LNG liquefaction trains, gas generation plants, petrochemical plants and agricultural chemical plants are expected.

As a result, Daewoo E&C is expected to be in a better position to secure an upper hand and expand its presence in the African market by making the most of its abundant construction experience and technology expertise, as the Korean contractor seizes the latest opportunity.

Daewoo E&C, designating the LNG business sector as one of its future growth engines, is stepping on the gas to land additional orders through sales activities tailored to meet orders in major mega-markets such as Nigeria, Qatar, Indonesia, Russia, and Papua New Guinea.

If Daewoo E&C wins the Iraqi project, the contractor is predicted to surpass its overseas order goal for this year.

Daewoo E&C is mostly likely to see a turnaround in sales for next year on the back of this year’s winning of highly profitable, good quality overseas orders.

The contractor plans to accelerate efforts to land overseas projects by making the most of its strengths.

Meanwhile, Daewoo E&C has made a strong showing in the overseas business sector so far this year.

The contractor ran away with successive mega project orders, amounting to a combined more than 3 trillion won, including Nigeria’s LNG Train 7 Project worth over 2 trillion won, and ones in countries such as Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong.

In a related development, Daewoo E&C has won a $2.625 billion order to build the first phase of a new port in Al Faw in southern Iraq, reports said. A formal signing of the deal is to be done in early next year.

According to Reuters and Daewoo E&C, the Iraqi cabinet approved a government plan, including one calling for allowing the Korean contractor to be charged with a project to build the first phase of the new port of Al Faw. Daewoo was awarded the construction of approach roads and berths, part of the first phase project.

The combined price tag of the additional five detailed projects, including the building of berths, is expected to stand at $2.625.

Daewoo E&C had been held closed-door negotiations with the Iraqi government for several years.

A Daewoo E&C official said the signing of a contract was imminent as negotiations had advanced recently, but would not disclose details.