(EnergyAsia, July 16 2012, Monday) — Venezuela’s state oil and gas company PDVSA has awarded a US$2.993 billion contract to a Sino-South Korean consortium to expand and upgrade the existing 210,000 b/d refinery in Puerto la Cruz, located about 250 km east of Caracas city.

Wison Engineering Ltd, China’s largest private chemical engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) service provider, said it will receive a 31% share of the contract worth US$927.8 million with the rest going to Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd and Hyundai Engineering Co Ltd.
 
In expanding the refinery’s capacity to 280,000 b/d, Wison said the consortium will undertake EPC work on the environmental and auxiliary units, and revamp its atmospheric distillation units to enable it to process heavy crude oil from the Orinoco Basin. The project is expected to be completed within 42 months.

Dong Hua, a Wison Engineering vice president, said:

“Venezuela has become one of the key important markets for Wison Engineering as the company focuses on its international business development. We are very proud to be recognised by PDVSA for our project management capabilities that we have accumulated over the years. We are very happy to partner with Hyundai at the time we are developing the global market.”
 
As part of its international expansion plan, Wison Engineering, a unit of thekWison Group, said it has been conducting feasibility studies to attract potential clients in Southeast Asia and the Middle East since 2008.

Through recently established sales offices in Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Indonesia, the company is in the process of securing new projects, including two with Saudi Arabia’s state-owned SABIC.