Samsung Corp. joins Angolan project

Samsung Corp. is to advance into Angola, as industry sources said on August 3 that Samsung vice chairman Hyun Myung-Kwan met with Angolan President Santos and agreed to pursue a US$4.4 billion project for refinery plant and marine facilities.

The company will form a consortium with SK Construction and Samsung Heavy Industries for the project. It is the first massive industrial development project ever to include participation by a Korean company in Angola, the second largest oil producing country in Africa.

The projected refinery will daily process about 200,000 barrels of crude oil. It will be completed by 2004, according to Samsung officials.

Also, the marine facilities construction project calls for building an oil-drilling rig for exploration of oil and gas in the nation`s largest oil field. It will be carried forward along with Samsung Heavy Industries and a French engineering firm.

In early June, Samsung formed a tie-up with Angolan authorities for industry-wide cooperation. So the company is expected to pursue a wide range of industrial development projects, including construction of a textile plant and shipyard, development of diamond mining, and road construction, the officials said.