GS Engineering & Construction, one of South Korea’s leading builders, said Thursday it has clinched a $2.62 billion contract to build a gas plant in Venezuela.

Under the deal with Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. Gas, GS E&C will build the natural gas-processing plant in Pirital, 360 kilometers southeast of the South American country’s capital, the builder said.

PDVSA Gas is a subsidiary of Venezuelan state-run oil and natural gas firm PDVSA.

GS E&C said the project also includes the construction of a 174-kilometer pipeline to transport the gas from the Pirital plant to another facility located in the port region of El Jose.

The gas plant is scheduled to be completed 50 months after construction begins, it said.

“I think the contract with PDVSA Gas comes to show that GS E&C, which first entered the Venezuelan market last year, has finally gained their trust and received recognition for our technology,” said Hur Sun-hang, head of the company’s plant construction division. (Yonhap)

Earlier last year, GS E&C had bagged a $5.35 million project ordered by PDVSA, marking the first time for a South Korean firm to be tapped as a project management company in a foreign refinery project. (Yonhap)