HONG KONG—STX Shipbuilding Co., the first South Korean company to build vessels in China, and two affiliates of the STX Group will invest $150 million to build a yard in Vietnam to build offshore rigs and platforms.

The yard will be constructed in Vanphong, 440 kilometers (273 miles) east of Hanoi, Jinhae, South Korea-based STX Shipbuilding said in a regulatory filing Wednesday. The shipbuilder will hold 35 percent of the STX-VINA Heavy Industry Co. venture, while STX Corp. will own 40 percent and STX Engine Co. 25 percent.

Record oil prices and economic growth are encouraging companies to spend more on exploring and producing fuel. Rivals Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Keppel Corp., the world’s largest shipyard and rig builder, won record orders last year.

The investment will be made in three stages until 2015, STX Shipbuilding said in the statement. No other details were given.

STX Shipbuilding and three subsidiaries are setting up the shipyard in China to lower costs. Later this year, the yard at Dalian, in northern China, will build bulk carriers and vessels to transport chemicals.

STX Shipbuilding dropped 8.6 percent to 33,000 won on concerns of an economic recession in the US The stock has more than doubled in the past 12 months, compared with an 18-percent climb in South Korea’s Kospi index. (Bloomberg)

Manila North Harbor endangers passengers

THE Manila North Harbor has fallen way below international safety standards, endangering more than one million passengers and users of one of the Philippines’ oldest terminals, a port agency said Tuesday.

HONG KONG—STX Shipbuilding Co., the first South Korean company to build vessels in China, and two affiliates of the STX Group will invest $150 million to build a yard in Vietnam to build offshore rigs and platforms.

JAPAN and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are helping prepare an investment project that will ease the flow of goods, services and people across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal to promote economic cooperation and integration among the four- member countries of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (Sasec).