Saudi Arabia Awards 3 Trillion Won Jafurah 2 Gas Plant Contract... Expectations for Digital Infrastructure Cooperation

'50th Anniversary Ceremony of Korea-Saudi Construction Cooperation'
Hyundai ENG·Hyundai Construction Gas Plant Contract
Naver, First Export of Digital Platform Government
Local Infrastructure Cooperation Center 'Platform' Opens

One Team Korea has achieved another success in Saudi Arabia. Along with securing a construction plant order worth 3 trillion won, it expanded cooperation between Korea and Saudi Arabia by achieving the first export of a digital platform government.

At the '50th Anniversary Ceremony of Korea-Saudi Construction Cooperation' held on the 23rd (local time) at the NEOM Exhibition Hall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under the presence of President Yoon Suk-yeol, contracts were signed for ▲Jafurah 2 Gas Plant Package 2 Project ▲Digital Twin Platform Construction and Operation ▲Advanced Construction Cooperation MOU within NEOM’s Oxagon ▲Data Center and other digital infrastructure construction MOUs.

On the 23rd (local time), key officials attending the contract signing ceremony for the Saudi Arabia Jafurah 2 Gas Plant Package 2 Project are taking a commemorative photo. From the front row, left to right: Hong Hyun-seong, CEO of Hyundai Engineering; Wail Al Jafari, Vice President of Aramco; Yoon Young-joon, CEO of Hyundai Construction. From the back row, left to right: Amin Al Nasser, CEO of Aramco; Majid Al Hogail, Saudi Minister of Housing; President Yoon Suk-yeol; Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Khalis Al Fali, Saudi Minister of Investment; Saleh Al Jasser, Saudi Minister of Transport. / Photo by the Presidential Office

The Jafurah 2 Gas Plant Project involves constructing a plant to refine natural gas in the Jafurah area, the largest shale gas deposit in the Middle East owned by Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco. Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Hyundai Construction secured the project for $2.4 billion (approximately 3.2 trillion won). This follows the successful consecutive order after the $2.9 billion Jafurah Phase 1 project won in 2021.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that this order is the result of continuous high-level diplomatic activities by One Team Korea. Thanks to this, Korean companies secured a total of $8.6 billion in overseas construction projects in Saudi Arabia this year. This accounts for one-third of the annual cumulative overseas construction orders of $25.9 billion. Compared to the average annual order amount in Saudi Arabia over the past five years ($3.4 billion), this is 2.5 times higher.

One Team Korea also solidified cooperation in the IT sector this time. Based on the digital transformation cooperation MOU signed by Naver with the Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing in March, a $100 million contract was signed with the Saudi Housing Authority to build and operate a digital twin platform.

This project, Naver’s first large-scale Middle East business, will build and operate a cloud-based 3D digital modeling digital twin platform over five years starting next year in five cities including the capital Riyadh, Medina, Jeddah, Dammam, and Mecca. The cloud-based digital twin platform is essential infrastructure for smart city development. The government evaluated this as a signal that the plan to realize the digital platform government, a national strategic industry and a public-private collaboration platform model, is being fully launched as the 'first export of the digital platform government.'

In addition, Samsung C&T and NEOM signed an advanced construction cooperation MOU within NEOM City’s Oxagon, and KT, Hyundai Construction, and Saudi Telecom signed an MOU for digital infrastructure construction including data centers. Various projects will be promoted to strengthen future infrastructure cooperation between the two countries in relation to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims for decarbonization and industrial diversification. In particular, Samsung C&T plans to build a factory producing modular structures starting late next year to be applied first to NEOM City construction. The government expects that participation in the $42 billion Rosheen project, which involves building 1 million houses across Saudi Arabia, will also be possible in the future.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong said, "The digital twin contract is significant as a platform role that expands cooperation fields based on past construction cooperation," adding, "Since it was agreed to establish a strategic partnership committee directly under the two heads of state during the summit, we will promptly form a ministerial-level NEOM and infrastructure committee and continuously review and support follow-up diplomatic achievements and future economic cooperation tasks between the two countries."

Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (fifth from the left), attended the opening ceremony of the Korea-Saudi Infrastructure Cooperation Center held at the NEOM Pavilion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the 22nd (local time), and took a commemorative photo with officials. / Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

Meanwhile, on the 22nd, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held the opening ceremony of the Korea-Saudi Infrastructure Cooperation Center and started activities to secure mega projects promoted by Saudi Arabia. At the event, Minister Won said, "The center will build close networks with major clients such as the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), Aramco, and NEOM, as well as local companies, and will fully support becoming an overseas order platform that provides high-quality local business information to our companies, especially as the NEOM liaison office."

On the same day, Hyundai Construction and Heerim Architects signed an MOU with the Saudi Ministry of Investment for cooperation in real estate and infrastructure investment development projects. It is meaningful that major contractors and designers of One Team Korea have laid the foundation for participation in infrastructure projects together.

This is the fourth dispatch of One Team Korea to Saudi Arabia. During the first dispatch in November last year, Samsung C&T and Hyundai Construction achieved the great success of jointly winning the underground tunnel construction contract for NEOM The Line. During the visit in January this year, Samsung C&T and PIF signed an agreement to concretize the modular cooperation MOU. Subsequently, in June, Hyundai Construction won the $5 billion Amiral Project (Package 1, Package 4) ordered by Aramco. This was recorded as the largest order ever won by Korean companies in Saudi Arabia.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.