Daewoo Engineering and Construction, a leading South Korean builder, will likely benefit most from a landmark deal between the nation and Saudi Arabia to cooperate in building small nuclear reactors in the Middle East country, some analysts said Thursday.

Early this week, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to forge a joint partnership on SMART and human resources development on the sidelines of their summit meeting in Riyadh on Tuesday. President Park Geun-hye and Saudi Arabia’s newly enthroned King Salman attended the signing ceremony.

SMART stands for System-integrated Modular Advanced Reactor, which is a midsize reactor reportedly suitable for Middle East small cities suffering from water and power shortages. 

Seoul officials said the conclusion of the MOU will help Korean builders win Saudi Arabia’s $2 billion project to build two midsize commercial reactors in the kingdom.

Market analysts predicted that Daewoo E&C and other companies like KEPCO KPS are expected to export SMART to Saudi Arabia.

“There is a high possibility that Daewoo E&C will be the main contractor for the engineering, procurement and construction of SMART,” an analyst from Kiwoom Securities was quoted as saying.

This is because Daewoo owns an 11.2 percent stake in SMART Power, which exclusively handles the exports of the small nuclear reactors.

“Daewoo could jockey for position in the small and medium-sized nuclear reactor market if the company wins the EPC contract for the SMART project,” he was further quoted as saying.

Daewoo has basked in its reputation as a leading Korean builder in the Middle East region and Africa. The company is currently building a port facility in Iraq, highways in Qatar, a thermoelectric power plant in Oman and a nuclear reactor for research in Jordan.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)