Italy-based energy and infrastructure contractor Saipem announced on Wednesday that it has been awarded a new onshore contract for the Uthmaniyah Gas Compression Plant project in Saudi Arabia.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, with a duration of approximately 42 months, was signed by Saipem Nasser Saeed Al‑Hajri Contracting Company (SNSH), a jointly controlled company owned by Saipem and Saudi-based Nasser Saeed Al‑Hajri and Partners Company for Contracting (NSH), Saipem said in a press statement.

Saipem’s said its share of the contract amounts to approximately €900 million ($1.04 billion), adding that the new compression plant will extend the production life of the Uthmaniyah gas field by tapping its non-associated gas flow.

The Uthmaniyah Gas Compression Plant is the first EPC project awarded under Aramco's National EPC Champion Programme, which aims to develop Saudi EPC contractors capable of executing the full range of onshore EPC activities through joint ventures between Saudi companies and leading international EPC firms .

SNSH, which combines Saipem’s engineering and project management capabilities with NSH’s construction expertise, is a participant in the programme.

The EPC contract involved negotiations betweeen Aramco and the contractor instead of competitive tender, according to a November 2025 report by UK-based industry news portal Upstreamonline.

Aramco has set a target of increasing its gas production by around 80 percent over its 2021 levels - approximately 10.1 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) - by 2030.

In April 2026, Saipem was awarded two EPC contracts worth $400 million by Aramco for water injection works at Safaniya offshore oil field in the Gulf.

​(Writing by Deva Palanisamy; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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