Samsung Engineering’s PTT Gas Separation Plant #6 Project Receives Project Management Institute’s 2011 PMI® Distinguished Project Award

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PMI President and CEO Mark A. Langley formally presented Project Management Institute’s PMI^® Distinguished Project Award to Park Ki-Seok, Samsung Engineering president and CEO, at an official ceremony today. Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd (SECL) is one of the world’s leading and fastest-growing engineering, procurement, construction and project management firms. PMI specifically commends Samsung’s ability to overcome a tight timeframe and substantial hurdles to complete the PTT Gas Separation Plant #6 project (GSP-6), which has created the world’s largest fuel separation plant. The plant powers Thailand’s growing petrochemical, commercial, domestic and transport markets.

“This demonstrates best practice solutions that show ingenuity, tenacity and flexibility, as well as effective stakeholder engagement. PMI commends PTT, Samsung Engineering and the entire project team for these outstanding results.”

In September 2007, PTT Public Company Ltd. (PTT) commissioned Samsung Engineering to build a gas separation plant – a project valued at US$630 million – at its Map Ta Phut complex in Rayong.“The project’s ambitious timeline, along with challenges like resource shortages, working around existing plants and government delays, forced us to look beyond traditional project management practices,” said Samsung Engineering’s Park Ki-Seok. “With the help of PMI’s standards, which led to successful implementation practices – particularly regarding risk management, communication management and human resource management – the project team continually surpassed expectations. We are honored that PMI has recognized the hard work and ingenuity of our team with the 2011 PMI Distinguished Project Award.”

The Samsung Engineering team faced substantial challenges. With approximately 300 tie-in points among existing plants within the PTT gas complex area, there had to be a large degree of sensitivity in coordination from the planning stage through completion. Also, in September 2009, the Supreme Court of Thailand issued an injunction to suspend the GSP-6 project, along with 65 other projects in the region, for an environmental and health assessment, resulting in an 11-month hiatus. All the while, Samsung Engineering was working on several other high-profile projects in Thailand that required extensive resources.

The GSP-6 project team overcame these challenges by applying concurrent engineering techniques to shorten the engineering process, which enabled them to start construction early. Leveraging all nine Knowledge Areas from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide), PMI’s enduring global standard used by organizations around the world, as the foundation for their internal methodologies, the team also implemented the following integration methods:

Combined the project teams from the GSP-6 project and other projects to minimize interfacing discrepancies, which are common when dealing with multiple adjacent projects.
Integrated multiple construction contracts and subcontractors, including shared equipment, fabrication yards and manpower to increase efficiency.
Integrated the construction workforce with the facility’s operational staff to form a task force that allowed uninterrupted operations of the adjacent facilities during the construction period and during the pre-commissioning and commissioning phases.

The GSP-6 project was successfully completed on 25 January 2011, on time and under budget, after 19,304,700 accident-free man hours. The plant is now the largest gas separation plant in the world in terms of the number of production-through-fractionation units.

“Samsung Engineering’s project clearly illustrates how project management standards and practices can fuel innovation that enables successful completion of projects at all levels,” said PMI’s Mark A. Langley, president and CEO of PMI. “This demonstrates best practice solutions that show ingenuity, tenacity and flexibility, as well as effective stakeholder engagement. PMI commends PTT, Samsung Engineering and the entire project team for these outstanding results.”

About Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd

Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd (SECL) has over 40 years of proven expertise in engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance and project management of hydrocarbon, industrial, and infrastructure plants and facilities in worldwide markets. With a global force of over 7,300, Samsung Engineering is an internationally recognized leader in the engineering industry. For more information, please visit www.samsungengineering.com.

About PTT Public Company Ltd

PTT Public Company Ltd. is the largest oil company in Thailand, with more than 10,000 employees. It also is the largest energy firm in Thailand and the biggest listed company with a market value of US$20 billion. PTT runs Thailand’s gas pipeline monopoly and controls more than 30 petroleum, gas exploration, petrochemical and refinery businesses – and that in a country that almost exclusively produces its electricity by using natural gas. Currently, the firm is improving its position with the Southeast Asian oil and energy market through strategic acquisitions.

About Project Management Institute (PMI)

PMI is the world’s largest project management member association, representing more than 600,000 practitioners in more than 185 countries. As a global thought leader and knowledge resource, PMI advances the profession through its global standards and credentials, collaborative chapters and virtual communities and academic research. When organizations invest in project management, supported by PMI, executives have confidence that their important initiatives will deliver expected results, greater business value and competitive advantage. Visit us at www.PMI.org, www.facebook.com/PMInstitute, and on Twitter @PMInstitute.