GS E&C, one of South Korea’s leading builders, said Tuesday that it won a $5.35 million contract to supervise the expansion of an oil refinery plant in Venezuela.

The company said it would serve as the project management company to check the engineering, procurement and construction process of the work at El Palito Refinery. The refinery is located some 140 kilometers west of Caracas.

It said while the total value of the contract is not large, it marks the first time that a South Korean company has been tapped as a PMC in a foreign refinery project.

The South Korean company leads PMC with Italy’s APS and Inelectrae of Venezuela as joint-venture partners. State-run Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. ordered the project that calls for increasing output at the refinery, with Japan’s Toyo Engineering, Italy’s Foster Wheeler and Venezuela’s Y&V Co. engaged in the actual construction that is expected to take 49 months. (Yonhap)