State utility Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has cancelled the remainder of an estimated $1.5bn contract with South Korea’s Samsung Engineering for the Yanbu phase 3 power project.

Samsung Engineering has confirmed it received an official release from the contract for the Yanbu 3 project that it was awarded in late 2012.

It is unclear why the contract was cancelled. Apart from a statement Samsung engineering released to the South Korean stock exchange, no further information has been released by Samsung Engineering or the client.

The project was due to have been completed in December 2016, but had been extended to August 2017. The project is reportedly currently 55 per cent completed. The cost of the work remaining to be completed on the project is estimated to be about $772m.

MEED reported in December 2012 that Samsung Engineering had been awarded the $1.5bn contract to build the 3,100MW power component of the Yanbu 3 power and desalination plant.