Saudi oil giant Aramco has signed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts with six joint venture firms led by global industry heavyweights such as India's Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Korean groups Samsung and Hyundai as well as Italian contractor Saipem as part of its long-term growth strategy.

The new agreements were signed as part of a major expansion of its Namaat industrial investment programme with 55 agreements and MoUs sealed across the sustainability, digital, industrial, manufacturing and social innovation sectors.

Namaat, which has grown from 32 to 55 investments since last year, supports industrial investment partnerships, helping to create jobs for Saudis and contributing to national growth and capacity building.

The programme aims to enable opportunities for local and international companies and leverage various incentives offered through the government’s Shareek program and other initiatives.

Senior Vice President (Technical Services) Ahmad Al Sa’adi said: "Namaat enables Aramco to be a catalyst for change across the kingdom’s economy, while maintaining our reliability as a global energy supplier at a time of market uncertainty."

"Our collaboration with industry leaders in areas of strategic importance for the kingdom, demonstrates how Aramco is creating national champions that will bring long term benefits to our value chain, our economy and our people," he added.

According to Aramco, the new agreements bolster Aramco’s long-term growth strategy and the kingdom’s expanding energy and chemicals value chains.

It also represents significant progress for the programme, with 19 of the 22 MoUs signed last year already reaching fruition, with a total investment of $3.5 billion.

The six JVs involved in the deal include Kent & Nesma; L&T and Gulf Consolidated Contractors; Samsung Engineering and Al Rushaid Group; Hyundai and Al Rashid Trading and Contracting Company (RTCC); Saipem and Nasser S. Al-Hajri Corporation (NSH) and Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Company (SSEC) and Abdel Hadi Abdullah Al Qahtani & Sons (AHQ).

Al Saadi said this latest phase of expansion for Namaat reflects even greater integration with other venture life cycle programmes that aim to add value and support sustainable growth.

The programme aims to enable opportunities for local and international companies and leverage various incentives offered through the government’s Shareek programme and other initiatives, he added.

Aramco said deals were also signed with a joint venture led by global technology and automation giant Honeywell to develop and implement digital technology solutions across industrial facilities; as well as Armorock and AlKifah Precast JV to localize the use of polymers in concrete production.

Shell & AMG Recycling and United Company for Industry (UCI) have also signed the vanadium concentrate sales agreement, enabling the construction of an in-Kingdom metal reclamation and catalyst manufacturing facility.

In addition this, a consortium comprising Accenture, Al Gihaz Holding and Impulse Partners has inked a deal for establishment and operation of Spark Digital Center.

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