South Korean shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. said Monday it has clinched a $900 million order to provide offshore platforms and other facilities off the coast of Africa.Under the deal with an oil major, Hyundai Heavy will build two offshore gas platforms and other facilities by the end of 2014, the company said.Hyundai Heavy gave no further specifics on the buyer or other details, but added the platforms will be built in the seas off Nigeria.With the contract, Hyundai Heavy has w

Exports of Korea’s four major refiners have already reached an all-time high this year on the back of soaring global demand for their lighter, cleaner petrol products, industry figures showed Monday.Combined exports of SK Innovation, GS Caltex, S-Oil and Hyundai Oilbank topped 76.1 trillion won ($64.5 billion) during the first ten months of the year, up more than 20 percent from 63.1 trillion won for the whole of 2010. That also reflects a sharp increase compared with the previous high of 68.1 t

The number of South Korean corporate bankruptcies jumped to a seven-month high in November, the central bank said Monday, raising concerns at signs of an economic slowdown.The number of companies that went belly-up totaled 130 last month, up from 118 in October, according to the Bank of Korea.The figure is the highest since 134 bankruptcies registered in April. The BOK added that the number of newly set-up firms reached 5,432 in November, growing 358 from the previous month.The default rate of c

South Korea plans to actively use its tariff quota system to cope with supply-side instability that can fuel inflationary pressure in 2012, the finance minister said Monday.In a meeting with economic policymakers, Bahk Jae-wan said Seoul plans to use the flexible tariffs to stabilize prices of products that may experience supply shortfalls.“There may be supply problems with products such as rice, dried chili peppers, garlic and pork in the coming months that can affect consumer prices,” he said.

South Korea is seeking to create an Asian financial safety next year as part of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization regime to better insulate the regional economies from a worldwide financial meltdown, the country’s senior economic policymaker said Monday.Speaking at the G20 global economic cooperation conference hosted by the Korea Development Institute, Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said that there is support and sympathy for setting up a regional precautionary credit line. The plan

South Korea’s real interest rate remained in negative territory for the 25th straight month in November, data showed Monday, raising concerns the trend will continue into next year amid a possible global economic downturn.The real interest rate, or the benchmark interest rate minus the consumer inflation rate, stood at minus 1 percent in November, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea.The November figure extended the minus real interest rate period to its longest streak since the B

By Yang Sung-jinSouth Korea’s stock market has demonstrated the most volatility of any market worldwide this year, data showed on Monday.Even aside from the turbulence sparked by the news of Kim Jong-il’s death, the financial industry’s data suggests that Korean investors rode a roller coaster ride this year, thanks to greater external uncertainties.The eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the growing local derivatives market and heavy reliance of the Korean economy on trades added to volatility, bro

Russia’s OAO Tatneft signed an accord valued at $1 billion with Iran to develop the Zagheh oil field in the Persian Gulf nation, where many energy projects face delays due to intensified sanctions by Western countries. A preliminary deal was signed in Tehran earlier Sunday between Tatneft, which is based in Russia’s Tatarstan region, and Iran’s Petroleum and Engineering Development Co., the Iranian Oil Ministry said on its news website Shana Sunday. Russia, which has opposed the latest financial

President Lee Myung-bak spent more than half of his summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Kyoto on Sunday with the issue of the World War II “comfort women.” He asked for the Japanese government’s “sincere and courageous efforts” to settle the issue, which has become a major obstacle to the partnership between the two neighbors.It certainly was extraordinary that the Korean president raised the wartime sex slavery in his conversation with the Japanese head of government for