Hyundai Engineering wins $256 mn order to revamp Thai IRPC refinery

South Korea’s construction company Hyundai Engineering Co. won a $256 million order from IRPC Pcl. to upgrade its refinery, allowing the Thai integrated petrochemical company to produce cleaner diesel.

Hyundai said on Aug. 26 it has inked a 300 billion won ($256.4 million) engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract with IRPC, Thailand’s third-largest refiner, to revamp its refinery with a total capacity of 215,000 barrels per day in Rayong, about 170 km south east of Bangkok.

Hyundai is set to build new facilities such as a diesel hydrotreating unit (DHT), and upgrade existing plants. The works have already started earlier this month with a plan to complete in early 2024 in line with the customer’s plan.

IRPC decided to invest 13.3 billion baht ($405.9 million) in the refinery efficiency and diesel quality improvement project to meet the country’s policy to introduce cleaner diesel from 2024, according to a filing to the local stock exchange on July 2.

The government requires diesel sold in the Southeast Asian country to meet Euro V standard, which caps the sulfur content at 10 ppm, starting from Jan. 1, 2024, to reduce pollution.

IRPC was scheduled to complete the project and start commercial operations within January 2024, according to the filing.

“Once the project is completed, the company’s capacity will be able to convert entire high-sulfur diesel to low-sulfur diesel following Euro V standards,” IRPC said.

Hyundai has been working on various EPC projects for major refiners and petrochemical producers in Thailand such as the country’s state-owned oil and gas giant PTT Group, Siam Cement Group (SCG) and Thai Oil Pcl.

“As we continued to win orders from new markets including Southeast Asia and Europe, the strategy to enter new markets and diversify construction types is bearing fruit,” said a Hyundai official.

Write to Jin-Soo Kim at true@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.