“We want to move from Abu Dhabi to Saudi,” Mike Choi, senior vice president of global sales and marketing said on the sidelines of a MEED conference.

South Korean companies have been competitive in bidding for projects across the Gulf region. Since 2008, GS has won $7 billion worth of projects from the United Arab Emirates, the world’s third-largest crude exporter.

GS has submitted a proposal for a mixed-feed cracker that oil giant Saudi Aramco and US Dow Chemical want to build as part of a giant petrochemical complex in Jubail.

“Other South Korean companies have a huge work load now (in Saudi Arabia) ... so we think we have more chances,” Choi said.

Saudi Aramco has awarded 39 contracts to South Korean companies worth $11.5 billion in the last five years, its chief executive, Khalid Al-Falih, said recently.

GS has also received an invitation to bid for five construction packages in the expansion of the Rabigh petrochemicals complex, Rabigh II project.

The company plans to bid as well for the onshore and offshore parts of the Kuwait-Saudi Hout oilfield and is in talks with several firms to partner for the offshore portion of the project.

Choi also said Iraq “has a very good potential” and the company was still evaluating how to enter the market.

GS will complete work on a green diesel project built by the UAE’s Takreer in July, with first production due to start in June, Choi said, while it is on schedule to finish work on the Saudi Manifa gas facilities project by October.