Saudi oil and gas giant Aramco announced six new agreements involving Saudi and international companies for the National EPC [Engineering, Procurement and Construction] Champions initiative under its Namaat industrial investment programme.

On Tuesday, 5th July, Aramco signed agreements with the joint ventures of:

  1. Kent (UK) and Nesma & Partners
  2. Larsen & Toubro (India) and Gulf Consolidated Contractors
  3. Samsung Engineering (South Korea)  & Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Company (ARPIC)
  4. Hyundai (South Korea) & Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting Co. (RTCC)
  5. Saipem (Italy) & Nasser S Al-Hajri Corporation (NSH)
  6. Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Co. (China) & Abdel Hadi Abdullah Al-Qahtani & Sons (AHQ)

In a follow-up press statement on Thursday, Kent and Nesma & Partners announced that they will create a new local Saudi company, Nesma Kent, to deliver engineering, procurement, and project management services for Saudi Aramco. In addition, the partnership will undertake to develop new capabilities in EPC services in the Kingdom relating to carbon capture, blue hydrogen, and blue ammonia technologies. The JV will also set up engineering centre of excellence in Kingdom within five years, establish a tailored training programme for Saudi Nationals and rotate Saudi engineers to Kent’s global engineering centres.

Samsung Engineering said it will establish a joint venture with ARPIC with the objective of increasing Saudisation levels, maximising IKTVA targets, and deploying leading construction technologies in the Kingdom.

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)