For example, GS Engineering & Construction took 694.6 billion won of operating loss during the six months this year, largely because of the losses in the Ruwais project in the United Arab Emirates (loss of 405 billion won) and the ethylene vinyl acetate project in Saudi Arabia (81 billion won).

 

Early in June, GS E&C president Huh Myung-soo resigned for the worsened business performance. The company expects to take an operating loss of 100 billion won in the third quarter too.

 

SK Engineering & Construction has also incurred 261.8 billion won in operating loss in the second quarter as it took losses in a series of overseas projects including the Wasit gas plant project in Saudi Arabia (loss of 150 billion won). For this, SK E&C vice chairman Choi Chang-won was let go of his post as the chairman of the board of directors.

 

Construction industry observers said there will be many more such companies because there have been many large-scale plant projects since 2009 in the Middle East and competition was fierce among builders from Europe and Asia. A construction industry executive said, "The order booking balance for Middle East petrochemical plant projects is now in excess of 10 trillion won. This is like a time bomb waiting to go off."