Samsung C&T Corp., a South Korean trading firm, said Wednesday it has inked a deal to join a $5 billion project to build a coal-powered plant and a carbon capture and storage facility in Britain.

Under the joint development agreement with London-based 2Co Energy Ltd., Samsung C&T will build a 900 megawatt coal gasification plant and a carbon capture and storage facility at Stainforth in South Yorkshire.

The agreement allows Samsung C&T to own 15 percent of the so-called Don Valley Power project, and aims to start test-runs of the facilities in 2016.

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

The project will capture 90 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions, which would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere, to help in the extraction of oil from the North Sea, according to Samsung C&T.

The company also said it has completed the construction of a liquefied natural gas facility in Mexico.

The facility in Manzanillo, a port west of Mexico City, can process 3.8 million metric tons of LNG annually, and also has two LNG tankers that each store 150,000 kiloliters.

Samsung C&T Corp. and the state-run Korea Gas Corp. own 37.5 percent and 25 percent of the project, respectively, with the remaining held by a Japanese firm.

The project was ordered in 2009 by Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission to secure and supply natural gas. Samsung C&T and KOGAS joined the project as investors and operators.

The two South Koran firms have the right to operate the facility over the next 20 years. 

(Yonhap News)