Samsung E&A (028050.KS) is accelerating its push into the market for diagnosing and refurbishing aging overseas plants through a partnership with the Korea Gas Safety Corporation.
Samsung E&A said on the 12th that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Gas Safety Corporation on the 8th at its Global Engineering Center in Seoul to strengthen cooperation in plant diagnostic technology and overseas projects. Samsung E&A Chief Executive Nam Goong-hong and Korea Gas Safety Corporation President Park Kyung-kook attended the signing ceremony along with other top executives from both organizations.
Under the agreement, the two sides plan to build a partnership spanning plant safety diagnostics and the full range of engineering, procurement and construction, or EPC, work. The plan calls for combining Samsung E&A's experience in domestic and overseas plant projects and its partnerships with major state-run oil companies abroad with the Korea Gas Safety Corporation's comprehensive plant diagnostic infrastructure and safety technology.
The MOU deepens a partnership that began in November last year, when Samsung E&A signed a letter of intent with the Korea Gas Safety Corporation on diagnostic cooperation. The two will work together on identifying and developing projects involving aging plants, third-party technical verification of fitness for service and equipment life span, support for safety inspections including phased array ultrasonic testing, and sharing of accumulated expertise.
On that basis, the two plan to make a full-scale push into the overseas market for diagnosing and refurbishing aging plants. They will jointly pursue work on aging plants operated by major overseas clients, from identifying opportunities to detailed safety diagnostics, refurbishment proposals and project execution.
An official at Samsung E&A said the partnership would become a model case of public-private cooperation in the plant sector, pairing a global EPC player with a leader in safety diagnostics. The official added that the company would push aggressively into the market for modernizing aging plants through active cooperation and project development.
An official at the Korea Gas Safety Corporation said the agreement lays the groundwork for applying domestic safety diagnostic technology at overseas plant sites on a full scale, adding that the agency, as a public institution tasked with protecting public safety, would contribute to safe plant operations abroad as well.