Invest KOREA

According to Yonhap News,

(SEJONG = Yonhap News) South Korea plans to develop the offshore plant industry into a new engine for growth that will create over 10,000 new jobs by 2017, the government said Monday.

The move comes as the global market for offshore plants is expected to grow by an average 6.4 percent per year from US$145.2 billion in 2010 to $230.3 billion in 2015 and to $503.9 billion in 2030, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

"The government plans to effectively implement its policy initiatives through close cooperation between related offices, while jointly investing some 900 billion won ($848 million) with the private sector by 2017 to create over 10,000 new jobs," it said in a press release.

South Korea has clenched 39.5 percent of global orders for offshore plants in the first eight months of the year, but its market leadership is being seriously challenged by China, whose global market share jumped from 18.3 percent in 2012 to 30.8 percent for the January-August period, according to the ministry.

To further strengthen its global leadership, South Korea will seek to localize most parts and equipment for offshore plants, ranging from drilling systems for offshore oil platforms to valves and even bolts.

Each Floating, Production, Storage, Offloading (FPSO) ship requires over 4,500 valves of some 2,000 types, the ministry said. Localization of the valves used in such ships will significantly improve the price competitiveness of local shipbuilders.

South Korea is already building its first research water tank for deep sea engineering for completion by 2016, which will enable its own designing of large offshore plants and vessels.

For each FPSO ship it builds, the country currently pays about $100 million in design fees to foreign firms.

In addition, the government plans to double the number of specialized colleges for offshore plants from the current three to six by 2020, while also increasing the number of specialized graduate schools to six from the current one, the ministry said.