The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea announced today that Korean companies won a total of USD 34.1 billion (up 12.7 percent year-on-year) in plant projects during 2024, the highest in nine years since the $36.5 billion secured in 2015.

Around 46 percent were Middle East projects, equivalent to $15.5 billion. In April 2024, Samsung E&A and GS E&C won Saudi Arabia’s $7.3 billion Fadhili Gas Increment Program, the third biggest mega deal following the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’ Barakah nuclear power plant project ($19.1 billion) of 2009 and Iraq’s Bismayah New City project ($7.7 billion) of 2012. Moreover, a Korean consortium’s early-stage participation in Qatar’s $2.8 billion desalination and combined cycle power plant project culminated in Samsung C&T’s securing of the EPC contract in November 2024.

Meanwhile, large-scale project wins in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia last year helped diversify Korea’s global plant market presence. Korean companies won $4.7 billion worth of projects in Eastern Europe alone including the $1.7 billion Serbian solar power plant project awarded to Hyundai Engineering, winning a total of $6.6 billion (up 250.6 percent) European projects in 2024. Bids won for Southeast Asian projects likewise soared 79.1 percent to $3.4 billion, including Malaysia’s $0.95 billion Phoenix Biorefinery Project won by Samsung E&A in December 2024.