Hyundai Engineering & Construction, the nation’s No. 1 builder, is extending its boundaries in the overseas market as it has won a series of orders from the Middle East and South America over the past few months.

In February, the construction unit of Hyundai Motor Group landed the $6 billion (6.4 trillion won) contract to build an oil refinery in the Karbala region in Iraq in coordination with several major Korean builders.

The consortium led by Hyundai E&C received the project from the State Company for Oil Projects to build the oil refinery which is to have a capacity of 140,000 barrels a day producing liquefied natural gas, gasoline and diesel in Karbala province, 120 kilometers south of Baghdad.

The contract’s duration is 54 months. The four companies will draw the building plans related to their specialized areas, and jointly manage procurement and carry out the construction work.

Earlier this year, the company has also made deep inroads into the Chilean market by securing a $648 million order placed by Chile’s Ministry of Public Works to construct a bridge over the Chacao Channel in the Los Lagos region.

Last December, the builder obtained an order worth $2.3 billion from Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA Petroleo S.A. to construct an oil refinery and an expressway leading to the facility.

The Batalla de Santa Ines refinery and highway will be built about 420 kilometers southwest of Caracas. The project includes the construction of an oil refinery that is capable of handling 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day and a 40-kilometer expressway. It is expected to take three years to complete the plant, and two years to finish highway construction.

In May 2013, the first concrete ceremony for the Unit 2 reactor at the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant was held.

The ceremony was attended by Hyundai E&C chief executive Jung Soo-hyun, Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick, and Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation CEO Mohamed Al Hammadi.

“Armed with over 40 years of experience and know-how accumulated in the construction of nuclear power plants, our company is doing everything possible to carry out the project,” a company spokesman said.

“Based on mutual trust and cooperation, we will make all-out efforts to build one of the safest and most effective nuclear power plants in the world,” he said.

Meanwhile, similar projects are underway in countries such as Uruguay and Qatar.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)