Saudi Aramco awards 8 contractors long-term agreements to upgrade projects

The six-year contracts come with a provision to extend for another six years

Oil tanks at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. Reuters

Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil exporter, awarded long term agreements to eight contracting companies for a number of plant upgrade projects.

The six-year contracts, which come with a provision to extend for another six years include engineering, procurement, construction, start-up and pre-commissioning of each project, as well as the installation of the upgraded facilities in the designated operating areas, Aramco said on Wednesday.

The companies that won the contracts include a consortium of Nasser Saeed Al Hajri and Contracting and Samsung, Daelim, ENPPI, GS Construction Arabia, Snamprogetti,  JGC Gulf Engineering, Technip as well as Hyundai Engineering and Construction.

The company did not disclose the value of the contracts.

"These LTAs [long-term agreements] which are associated with huge business ... allow us to boost the performance of our brownfield and upgrade projects," said Ahmad Al Sa'adi, Aramco’s technical services senior vice president.

Earlier this year, the world's largest oil-exporting company signed partnership agreements worth more than $21 billion with international companies to work across its value chain in the energy sector. Saudi Aramco also signed a $110 million joint venture with Baker Hughes in the non-metallics sector.

The company is also planning to increase the amount it procures locally, aiming to meet at least 70 per cent of procurement spending from Saudi Arabian companies by 2021.

Aramco, which floated a 1.75 per cent stake on Tadawul in December last year, returned to global bond markets last week.

The company will begin issuing senior, unsecured bonds denominated in US dollars, but said the amount issued and the bond values are "subject to market conditions".