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| Hyundai Heavy Industries Chairman and CEO Lee Jai-seong, right, receives a sculpture of a hawk from Mohamed bin Saleh al Sada, minister of energy and industry affairs of Qatar, at the Gastech Conference & Exhibition held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. In return, Lee gave the minister traditional Korean chinaware. They discussed cooperation in gas plant projects during the meeting. / Courtesy of Hyundai Heavy Industries |
By Yoon Ja-young
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At the ongoing Gastech Conference & Exhibition being held in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Korean companies are promoting their latest technologies to the thousands of visitors from the global gas industry.
"Orders for LNG facilities are expected to increase due to growing demand for the environmentally friendly resource after the accident at the nuclear power plant in Japan," said a spokesman for Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).
"We will strive to keep our competitive edge in the sector through active marketing and continuous R&D," he added.
HHI is actively promoting its products and technologies at Gastech, which runs from Monday through Thursday.
Held every 18 months, Gastech is one of the three major events in the global gas industry, along with World Gas Conference and LNG Conference. Almost 400 companies from 44 countries and 15,000 visitors are participating in the event hosted by Korea Gas Corp. this year, the first time the conference is being held in Northeast Asia.
Korean shipbuilders hold more than 80 percent of the current order book for LNG carriers, and the companies including HHI are promoting diverse LNG facilities at Gastech.
Hyundai, which built its first LNG carrier in 1994, has been leading the global industry through technological development.
It has received 78 orders for LNG vessels so far, and succeeded in building an LNG Floating, Storage & Regasification Unit (LNG FSRU) for the first time in the world in February. The onshore facility stores liquefied gas from carriers transferred through offshore pipelines. Hyundai is promoting LNG carriers as well as LNG FSRU at Gastech.
CEO Lee Jae-sung met Mohamed bin Saleh al Sada, the minister of energy and industry affairs for Qatar, at the exhibition venue Monday, and discussed cooperation in offshore gas plant projects. Qatar is the world's biggest LNG exporter, with the third largest natural gas deposits in the world.
Hyundai has received 12 ship orders amounting to 2.5 trillion won from the Middle Eastern country since the mid 2000s, and is also carrying out two plant projects there.
Samsung Heavy Industries is promoting its Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) at this year's Gastech. The company received an order for the facility, which costs around 5 trillion won, from Shell.
"We have proven our technology worldwide. We are promoting not only FLNG but LNG vessels where we are market leaders," a Samsung spokesman said.
An official from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering said the company is also focusing on promoting LNG vessels. "Daewoo received 107 orders for LNG vessels. Korean shipbuilders are arguably the best in the sector."
He said Gastech is providing a venue for global companies to share information. "The customer companies have been meeting with the shipbuilders, sometimes continuing their previous business negotiations here."
Kyung Dong Navien, a leading boiler manufacturer, exhibited how gas energy contributes to our daily life. The company developed a high-efficiency condensing gas boiler for the first time in Asia, and is now exporting the product that generates hot water on demand for both heating homes and daily consumption.
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