Latest News

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  Al-Mabanee submits lowest bids for Kuwait infrastructure

  Administrator

  2 June 2026

  Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) has opened commercial bids for two major infrastructure and public buildings packages at South Al-Mutlaa Residential City.

  Local firm Al-Mabanee United Company has emerged as the lowest bidder for both contracts, submitting combined offers worth KD44m. Both packages entail the construction, completion and maintenance of services, infrastructure works and public buildings for different district centres within the city.

  The first contract covers the infrastructure and public buildings for the N3 District Centre. PAHW received proposals from eight bidders, with Al-Mabanee United Company submitting the lowest price at KD20.9m. The second-lowest offer was submitted by The Contractor General Trading & Contracting Company at KD22.4m, followed by Golden Engineering Group for General Trading & Contracting at KD22.7m, though Golden Engineering Group was flagged for not providing a bid bond.

  Al-Khonaini General Trading & Contracting Company, operating as Inshat Al-Khonaini, ranked fourth with a bid of KD22.7m, followed closely by Kuwait Industrial Centre Company at KD22.8m. Combined Group Contracting Company submitted a bid of KD23.8m, Al-Dar Engineering & Construction Company bid KD25.7m, and China’s Sichuan Road & Bridge Group Corporation submitted the highest active proposal at KD29m. 

  The second contract is for identical infrastructure and public building works at the N1 District Centre. Al-Mabanee United Company submitted the lowest bid of KD22.8m. Its closest competitor was The Contractor General Trading & Contracting Company, which submitted an offer of KD23.9m.

  Al-Khonaini General Trading & Contracting Company came in third with a bid of KD24.2m, followed by Kuwait Industrial Centre Company at KD24.4m and Golden Engineering Group for General Trading & Contracting at KD24.4m. Combined Group Contracting Company placed a bid of KD26m, Al-Dar Engineering & Construction Company bid KD26.5m, and United Construction Company, known as Al-Inshat Al-Muttahida, submitted an offer of KD 30.9m. Al-Ghanim International General Trading & Contracting filed the highest bid at KD344m and was also noted for lacking a bid bond.

  South Mutlaa Residential City is a large-scale planned development designed to accommodate around 400,000 residents in a modern, fully serviced urban environment. Once completed, it will offer contemporary housing alongside extensive logistical services and a wide range of public and commercial areas, including hospitals, schools and other social services.

  The project also includes major infrastructure works such as approximately 150 kilometres of roads and related structures, lighting and other public works, as well as integrated systems for water distribution, rainwater collection and sewage. In addition, it will provide the civil infrastructure needed for electricity distribution, telecommunications networks and traffic control to support a well-connected, functional city.

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  Colin Foreman
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  Local developer secures finance for three Riyadh projects

  Administrator

  2 June 2026

  Qimam Noshoz for Real Estate Development Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Banan Real Estate Company, has signed a sharia-compliant credit facility agreement worth SR84m ($22.4m) with Riyad Bank to fund three commercial, hospitality and sports developments in the kingdom.

  The financing agreement is split into two distinct tranches to align with the projects’ development timelines. The first tranche consists of SR49m with a maturity duration of seven years, while the remaining SR35m has been secured for an eight-year term.

  Qimam Noshoz will utilise the capital to fund construction works for the Al-Rahmaniyah Gem and Al-Wadi District Gem projects. Both of these projects are already leased to the fitness operator Armah Sports Company. The other project is an independent hotel located within the Al-Wadi District.

  The Al-Wadi development is designed as an integrated commercial complex spanning approximately 7,818.5 square metres of land, with a built-up area of about 975 square metres. It includes a men’s gym, a women’s gym and a hotel building.

  The Al-Rahmaniyah project is an integrated commercial development combining fitness facilities with retail. The asset features men’s and women’s gyms operating alongside an independent commercial zone.

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  Colin Foreman
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  SLB wins $385m contract for Kuwait oil research centre

  Administrator

  2 June 2026

  Schlumberger Oilfield Eastern, a unit of the US-headquartered oilfield services company SLB, has been awarded a KD118m ($385m) contract to develop an oil and gas research centre in Kuwait.

  The contract was awarded by the state-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), according to a report by Kuwait’s Al-Rai newspaper.

  The Ahmadi Innovation Valley (AIV) project is planned as an advanced research and innovation hub equipped with specialised facilities and technical teams focused on applied research for Kuwait’s oil and gas sector.

  The contract was awarded after the Higher Purchase Committee (HPC) of Kuwait’s national oil and gas company Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) determined the bid to be compliant with the project’s technical and commercial requirements.

  In February 2025, KOC signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with five international oilfield service companies to support the development of the AIV initiative.

  These companies were:

  • SLB (US)
  • Baker Hughes (US)
  • Weatherford (US)
  • Halliburton (US)
  • National Energy Services Reunited (US)

  Under the preliminary agreements, each of the five companies agreed to establish a world-class research and development centre at the project site, focused on helping KOC meet challenges in the upstream sector.

  KOC’s CEO Ahmad Jaber Al-Eidan had said in February 2025 that the project will enable Kuwait to keep pace with global transformations while investing in advanced technologies to ensure the sector’s sustainability and achieve operational excellence.

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  Wil Crisp
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  Lack of truck-loading facilities in Iraq restricts oil exports

  Administrator

  2 June 2026

  

   

  A lack of truck-loading facilities at oil fields in southern Iraq is restricting the country’s exports, according to industry sources.

  Since the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, Iraq’s exports shipped through the Strait of Hormuz have been severely disrupted, increasing the country’s reliance on exporting crude using trucks and pipelines.

  In April, Iraq’s state-owned oil marketing company, Somo, said it had awarded contracts to supply about 650,000 metric tonnes of fuel oil a month for overland trucking across Syria.

  On top of this, Iraq is also transporting oil by truck from the south of the country to export pipeline infrastructure in the north.

  One industry source said: “Moving crude by truck is very inefficient and expensive compared to using a big pipeline or large ships.

  “Iraq’s infrastructure was not designed with the idea of using trucks to move crude at the current scale.

  “The current level of exports is a fraction of what was being exported before the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz started.

  “There are a lot of problems that are emerging and these include a lack of truck-loading facilities at oil fields in the south of the country.

  “Many fields don’t have the truck loading stations, loading arms, pumps and meters that are needed to increase truck export volumes.”

  Iraq exported 10 million barrels of crude in April, an 89% drop from the 93 million barrels exported the month before the Iran conflict.

  READ: Gulf races to reroute trade

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  Wil Crisp
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  Iraq’s reform window narrows

  Administrator

  2 June 2026

  Commentary
  John Bambridge
  Analysis editor

  Iraq enters mid-2026 with the most expansive projects pipeline in its post-2003 history, with more than $420bn in planned and active work, but an increasingly narrow fiscal margin within which to deliver it.

  The cumulative pipeline builds on a 2025 performance that witnessed a record $17bn in contract awards in the power and water sector and looks forward to a construction industry forecast to expand at 4.8% annually through 2028. In the energy sector, the Gas Growth Integrated Project is advancing towards its 2028 commissioning, while the country’s North-South logistics expansion remains in active procurement.

  The pipeline is very real, but the conditions that were expected to fund it no longer exist in the wake of the Iran war.

  April oil exports ran 90% below the previous year’s monthly average as Strait of Hormuz transit remained effectively suspended. The IMF projects Iraq’s real GDP to contract by 6.8% in 2026 – the sharpest regional revision after Qatar. Even before the conflict, Iraq’s reserves were falling by about $10bn every year. The three-year budget framework expired in 2025 with no 2026 successor in place, leaving forward-looking spending uncertain. Ali Al-Zaidi was sworn in as prime minister on 14 May with fragile coalition support and nine cabinet portfolios still unfilled.

  The structural collision is between an infrastructure ambition built for 4 million barrels a day of exports and a fiscal reality running at a fraction of that. Iraq’s oil revenue funds over 90% of the federal budget. An exports collapse of the scale now visible will strip more from the budget in months than any reform programme can replace in years. And some of the production lost may not return. Many of Iraq’s southern fields have been running at reduced rates rather than fully shut in – the better strategy for preserving well integrity – but the longer the downtime, the higher the share of capacity that may not recover in the coming months. The revenue base on which Iraq’s pipeline was assembled is not just suspended; some of it is structurally imperilled.

  The current situation will force reform. Every Iraqi government since 2014 has faced reform pressures, but 2026 has not just tested the underlying assumptions; it has shattered them. Past reform programmes attempted to optimise governance amid volatile oil revenues; the current one must contend with existential risk to the revenue base.

  Al-Zaidi’s first task will not be the budget or the Hormuz crisis in isolation; it will be to convert a fragile mandate into the policy leadership and governance necessary to sustain the projects pipeline. The window for this is open, but it will not stay open long.

  

   

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  MEED’s June 2026 report on Iraq includes:

  > GOVERNMENT: Al-Zaidi takes Iraq’s premiership under US shadow
  > BANKING: Financial challenge tests Iraq’s resolve
  > ECONOMY: Iraq enters era of resilience, reform and rising risks 
  > OIL & GAS: Iraqi oil and gas sector in crisis
  > POWER & WATER: Focus shifts to delivery of Iraq utilities expansion
  > CONSTRUCTION: Momentum builds in Iraq’s post-war construction sector

  To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here

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  John Bambridge
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  Saudi firm to build Al-Henakiyah solar IPP grid link

  Administrator

  1 June 2026

  

   

  Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works has won the main contract to build a 380kV overhead transmission line in Saudi Arabia’s Medina region, according to market sources.

  The project includes the construction of a 354-kilometre-long overhead transmission line that will connect the Al-Henakiyah 3 solar independent power producer (IPP) to several main substations and export power from the plant into the national transmission network.

  The scheme is being developed by Saudi Energy, formerly Saudi Electricity Company.

  The scope covers the supply and erection of transmission towers and foundations, as well as associated grid interface and termination works.

  The Al-Henakiyah 3 solar IPP is part of Saudi Arabia’s wider pipeline of utility-scale solar projects being developed under the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF’s) renewables programme, which runs parallel to the National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP), now in its seventh round.

  In 2025, the PIF outlined plans to advance second- and third-phase extensions to five existing solar plants, including Al-Henakiyah, totalling 9GW of additional capacity.

  According to official documents, the negotiation process for the directly-awarded concessions was due to start last year.

  Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works, meanwhile, is continuing to advance several transmission line projects for Saudi Energy.

  In June 2025, it was appointed as the main contractor to build a separate 380kV overhead transmission line linking the 2GW Afif 1 solar IPP to the national grid.

  Works on this project are not expected to be completed until at least 2027.

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  > Be recognised among the best in the industry at the MEED Projects Awards 2026 …

  

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  Mark Dowdall
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  Petrofac completes sale of Abu Dhabi business unit

  Administrator

  1 June 2026

  UK-headquartered Petrofac has completed the sale of Petrofac Emirates, a business unit it established in Abu Dhabi in 2008.

  The unit has been bought by a consortium of financial investors led by the New York-headquartered hedge fund Mason Capital Management and UK-based asset management firm Pearlstone Alternative.

  In a statement, Petrofac said the sale was completed after the satisfaction of all required conditions and approvals.

  The business unit was originally founded with a strategy to provide engineering, design, procurement and construction services for oil, gas, refining, petrochemical and renewable energy projects.

  Petrofac Emirates has engineering and construction (E&C) capability and includes E&C teams based in the UAE and India.

  In its latest statement, Petrofac said: “Petrofac Emirates encompasses Petrofac’s core E&C capability in the UAE.

  “The transaction positions Petrofac Emirates as a strong, self-sustaining company with no funded debt on its balance sheet and substantial growth opportunities.”

  Leadership role

  Under current plans, Tareq Kawash, who has been the group chief executive of Petrofac since April 2023, will become the chief executive of Petrofac Emirates to lead the E&C business through its next phase under new ownership.

  Kawash has over 30 years of international leadership experience at engineering procurement and construction (EPC) companies.

  Prior to working at Petrofac, he was a senior vice-president at McDermott International.

  Following the completion of the sale, Afonso Reis e Sousa will step down as group chief financial officer of Petrofac.

  Commenting on the sale of Petrofac Emirates, Kawash said: “The completion of this transaction marks an important milestone for Petrofac Emirates and the beginning of an important new chapter for the business.

  “Under our new ownership structure, with a focused platform for growth, we are well-positioned to build on our track record, strengthen our long-standing customer relationships and pursue new opportunities across the wider Mena region.

  “The transaction is not the destination; it is the platform from which we move forward with confidence, discipline and ambition.”

  Sam Read, a partner at Mason, said: “Our mission is to empower Petrofac Emirates to achieve its strategic goals, capitalise on new market opportunities, and leverage significant growth potential in the dynamic energy EPC sector.

  “Petrofac Emirates has market-leading capabilities and an unmatched track record of delivering for its customers, and we look forward to partnering with the company to help drive continued success.”

  The sale of Petrofac Emirates follows the completion of the sale of Petrofac Asset Solutions in April.

  In December, it was announced that US-based CB&I had entered into a sale agreement to buy the unit.

  Petrofac’s asset solutions unit provides operations, maintenance and decommissioning services for onshore and offshore energy assets.

  In a statement, CB&I said that the acquisition would strengthen its portfolio with “a complementary reimbursable contracting model business, delivering predictable cash flow and enhancing service capabilities”.

  Restructuring disruption

  Amid Petrofac’s dramatic restructuring, there has been disruption to progress at some of the company’s projects.

  In March, MEED reported that Petrofac, along with its partner China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corporation (HQCEC), had stopped work on a petrochemicals project in Algeria, valued at approximately $1.5bn.

  The news about the Algeria project came just over two weeks after MEED reported that Petrofac had also stopped work on an oil project in Libya and cut staff in the North African country.

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  Chinese-Saudi joint venture to build 18GWh battery storage plant

  Administrator

  1 June 2026

  Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

  China-headquartered ZOE Energy Storage has announced it has signed a joint-venture agreement with a Saudi partner to develop a battery energy storage system (bess) manufacturing facility in the kingdom.

  The facility will be developed in two phases. The first phase will have an annual production capacity of 6GWh and is scheduled to begin operations in the first quarter of 2027.

  A second phase will increase the total production capacity to 18GWh.

  In a statement, ZOE said the manufacturing facility will cover 150 acres and will be built to European manufacturing standards.

  The location and the partner involved have not been publicly disclosed.

  The Saudi facility will be the Chinese company’s second overseas manufacturing base, following a 6GWh energy storage system manufacturing facility in Hungary. This was developed with Energy Pro Hungary and began operations in October 2025.

  Under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 objectives, the kingdom plans to deploy 130GW of renewable energy capacity and 48GWh of energy storage and achieve 50% clean power generation.

  In May, Saudi Arabia’s principal buyer, Saudi Power Procurement Company, received statements of qualification from firms seeking to build, own and operate a second group of bess projects with a combined power capacity of 3GW.

  The programme comprises six independent storage provider projects with a total capacity of 3GW, equivalent to 12,000 megawatt-hours based on a four-hour storage duration.

  The main contract tender is expected to be issued in the coming months once firms are formally prequalified.

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  > Be recognised among the best in the industry at the MEED Projects Awards 2026 …

  

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  Mark Dowdall