Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012
By Summer Said and Ilan Brat
DUBAI--Saudi Arabia has suspended the local operating license of Tecnicas Reunidas SA (TRE.MC) due to an "administrative error", a spokesperson at the Spanish engineering company said Wednesday.
The license was suspended due to an "administrative error", but Marta G?mez de Salazar, Tecnicas' director of investor relations, declined to give further details on the error.
But two people familiar with the matter said the Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority, or SAGIA, suspended the Spanish company's license after a former local Saudi partner of the firm complained to the authority that Tecnicas provided inaccurate information for its local license in the kingdom.
The attorneys of the Spanish firm are currently working to resolve the matter, which has not affected its operations in Saudi Arabia, and "the company expects a favorable resolution in the short term," she said.
SAGIA officials were not immediately available for comment.
Earlier this month, Tecnicas said it has won two projects worth $900 million, its biggest contract so far this year, by state-oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, to build a hydrocracker plant and a diesel hydrotreater facility for a 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery and marine terminal project at Jazan on the Red Sea coast. The contract is Tecnicas Reunidas' fourth from Saudi Arabia during 2012. The value of the three previously awarded projects amounts to $1.6 billion.
Write to Summer Said at summer.said@dowjones.com and Ilan Brat at Ilan.Brat@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
28-11-12 1529GMT
