UK-based global consulting and engineering company Wood announced on Wednesday that it secured a record $920 million of strategic wins across the Middle East.

The contracts span Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Wood recently opened its third office in Sharjah, the LSE-listed company said in a press statement.

Key wins included pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) on Aramco’s Southern and Northern Areas project in Saudi Arabia; integrated FEED, detailed design, procurement support, and construction and commissioning assistance for TotalEnergies in Iraq; as well as a flare gas reduction programme which has reduced more than 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

“As we underlined in our strategy, we believe the Middle East will be a huge driving force in the world’s energy transition and Wood is helping accelerate the journey to net zero in the region as a trusted partner to companies like Saudi Aramco, ADNOC, Shell and TotalEnergies,” said Wood’s CEO Ken Gilmartin.

He also credited the highest-ever regional wins to the company’s 3,500 strong team.

“Our growing portfolio is also creating opportunities for Wood to offer unmatched career and development experiences, and we’re continuing to attract the best and brightest talent to join our teams across the Middle East,” he said.

Overall, Wood grew its Middle East team by 16 per cent in 2024. It expanded its Middle East workforce by 500 employees in less than a year, with a 25 percent headcount increase in UAE alone. To support continued growth, the company is also currently recruiting for another 130 roles across the region.

Wood also continues to invest in local talent development. In early 2025, it will be opening a vocational training centre in Basra, Iraq, with joint venture partner, Al Majal. In the UAE, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the company has created structured, multidiscipline graduate engineering programmes to provide both on-the-job and classroom-based training for local people, with 87 new graduates having joined the company in 2024.

Wood was awarded a Nafis Award earlier in 2024, for attracting and developing Emirati talent in the UAE, the statement noted.

Read more: Wood wins decarbonisation project in the Middle East

Wood completes the preliminary engineering for the world’s largest carbon capture and sequestration hub in Saudi Arabia

(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by SA Kader)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

Subscribe to our Projects' PULSE newsletter that brings you trustworthy news, updates and insights on project activities, developments, and partnerships across sectors in the Middle East and Africa.