Samsung E&A (028050.KS) is expanding into the market for inspecting and refurbishing aging overseas plants through a partnership with the Korea Gas Safety Corporation. The plan is to combine Samsung E&A's engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) capabilities with the gas safety agency's inspection technology to develop business opportunities with overseas clients.
Samsung E&A said on the 12th that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Gas Safety Corporation on strengthening cooperation in plant inspection technology and overseas business on the 8th at its Global Engineering Center in Sangil-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul. Nam Goong-hong, president and chief executive of Samsung E&A, and Park Kyung-kook, president of the Korea Gas Safety Corporation, attended the signing ceremony.
The agreement develops a letter of intent on plant inspection cooperation that the two signed in November last year into concrete business cooperation. The two sides agreed to widen the scope of their cooperation from the initial stage of checking the safety condition of aging plants through to carrying out refurbishment projects.
Specifically, they will work together on identifying and developing overseas aging-plant projects, third-party technical verification of equipment fitness for service and remaining service life, and precision safety inspections such as phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT). They also plan to share the technology and experience accumulated in carrying out the work.
Samsung E&A will draw on the execution experience it has built through global plant projects and its network of partnerships with overseas national oil companies. The Korea Gas Safety Corporation will provide comprehensive plant safety inspection facilities and specialized technology. On that basis, the two will conduct safety inspections of aging equipment for overseas clients and propose equipment improvement plans and refurbishment projects based on the findings.
An official at Samsung E&A said the arrangement is a case of public-private cooperation in which a global EPC company and a public agency specializing in safety inspection have combined their respective capabilities, adding that the two will jointly identify business opportunities to begin a full-scale push into the overseas market for modernizing aging plants.