South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. will join Saudi Aramco`s $20 billion project to build offshore oil and gas producing facilities, the South Korean top shipyard announced Thursday.

Hyundai Heavy Industries said that it became one of the 10 long-term agreement (LTA) contractors of the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company under a memorandum of understanding signed at a forum in Dammam in the Middle East country on Feb. 24-25.

Shares of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, holding entity of the shipbuilder, jumped 4.25 percent to close at 110,500 won ($93.45) on Thursday.

Aramco has awarded LTA eligibility to global engineering, procurement, fabrication and offshore installation (EPIC) contractors. LTA contractors will be entrusted with the responsibility to deliver various offshore oil and gas producing platforms, pipelines, and related facilities for Saudi Aramco`s offshore fields. The industry expects Saudi Aramco to place an order of more than 100 fixed oil and gas platform facilities worth more than $3 billion over the next six years valuing total $20 billion.

In December 2019, Aramco signed a deal to acquire a 17 percent stake in Hyundai Oilbank, the oil refinery unit of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, expanding its partnership as the second-largest shareholder of the refinery.

By Pulse

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