Saudi Arabia's King Salman Energy Park signs up Dubai’s Oilfields Supply Centre as anchor customer

The Jebel Ali-based firm will invest $450m in two years into developing an industrial facility

The King Salman Energy Park (Spark) is located between Dammam and Al Hasa in the kingdom's eastern province. Courtesy Saudi Aramco 

Dubai-based Oilfields Supply Centre is the anchor tenant of Saudi Arabia’s $1.6 billion (Dh5.87bn) King Salman Energy Park, or Spark, which supports the kingdom’s hydrocarbons sector.

OSC, which is based in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, plans to invest around $450 million over the next two years and will create more than 300 industrial and service facilities.

The UAE company will develop a 1 million square metre business incubator - one of the largest in the region - known as a common user supply base (CUSB) to support the oil and gas industry in the kingdom. It will also look to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Located between Dammam and Al Hasa, Spark will benefit from Saudi Aramco’s In-Kingdom Total Value Add programme, an initiative launched in December 2015. The programme requires all of the company’s suppliers to attain 70 per cent local production and export 30 per cent of locally manufactured energy goods and services output by 2021.

“OSC’s investment marks an important step in Spark's journey to become an integrated energy, industrial, technology and services hub. It will contribute to supply chain localisation, boost job creation and support the overall advancement of the kingdom’s energy sector,” said Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser.

The CUSB will have the potential to expand and add a further 500,000 square metres, Aramco said.

Spark, which is located in the Eastern Province, will stretch over a 50 square kilometre area, contributing more than $6bn to the kingdom’s gross domestic product and generating 100,000 direct and indirect jobs. The first phase is set for completion by 2021.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is launching industrial parks and creating more private sector companies under Vision 2030, a roadmap to wean the kingdom away from reliance on energy income.

Spark has attracted interest from major international investors including oil services firms Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, a unit of GE, and Halliburton.