meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Kuwait’s Gulf Centre United sets course for expansion

11 August 2023

This month’s special report on Kuwait includes: 

> ECONOMY: Stakeholders hope Kuwait can execute spending plans
> ENERGY: Kuwait’s $300bn energy target is a big test
> BANKING: Kuwaiti banks enter bounce-back mode

 

Kuwait-based Gulf Centre United Industrial Equipment, which specialises in the fabrication and supply of tailor-made construction equipment, has set its sights on expansion within the country, according to the company’s chief operating officer Majed Yazji.

The equipment the company makes includes rock-crushing machinery, concrete plants and asphalt units. It also acts as an agent, importing equipment made in Europe into the Middle East region.

While Kuwait has seen a dramatic decline in infrastructure project activity over recent years, Yazi is confident that the family business will be able to execute its expansion plans.

Road maintenance

One factor fuelling optimism about the firm’s future is that the country has continued to prioritise road maintenance contracts.                                                                                              

In May, it was announced that a road maintenance project valued at about $800m had attracted 36 contractors.

Prospective bidders included companies from Japan, South Korea, France, China, India, the US and Hungary, according to tender documents.

“This is a very big maintenance project and it gives us confidence there is going to be demand for our services within Kuwait for some time to come,” said Yazji.

There are five asphalt factories in Kuwait and Gulf Centre United Industrial Equipment is engaging with them over the correct way to create long-lasting asphalt that can endure the country’s high temperatures.

“This is a very big contract and it is currently seeing progress, but it remains in its early stages and it is unclear at the moment exactly when it will be awarded,” said Yazji.

“Whichever contractor wins this, it is very likely that we will end up supplying them with services, including fabrication.”

Remediation projects

Gulf Centre United Industrial Equipment also expects to benefit from the large oil remediation projects that are continuing in Kuwait.

Many of these clean-up projects are focused on damage done during the 1990-91 Gulf War and are funded using reparations from Iraq that have been put into a fund by the UN.

These projects have seen good progress over recent years as they are not reliant on budgets being signed off by policymakers.

Political instability is one of the biggest factors in the decline in Kuwaiti infrastructure contract awards over recent years.

Kuwait has had three elections in three years, creating policy uncertainty that has significantly impacted businesses and led to a contraction in the country’s energy sector.

The ongoing Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme (Kerp) is understood to be deploying about $3.5bn of the reparation funds, cleaning up the damage caused by oil spills related to the war.

Approximately 114 square kilometres of Kuwaiti desert surface was contaminated by the burning of nearly 700 oil wells, which were set on fire by the troops forced into retreat by the US-led Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Treatments include bio-remediation, whereby bacteria breaks down oil, and mechanical soil washing, which uses machines to separate oil from soil.

Gulf Centre United Industrial Equipment has participated in the Kerp projects by acting as an agent and supplying equipment from overseas to contractors carrying out mechanical soil washing to decontaminate polluted areas.

We are very optimistic about our prospects in Saudi Arabia over the coming years
Majed Yazji, Gulf Centre United Industrial Equipment

Saudi expansion

Gulf Centre United is also expanding regionally. It has already opened an office in Oman and is looking to start operations in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the project boom in the kingdom.

The company is studying a range of locations in Saudi Arabia, according to Yazji.

These include locations near the Red Sea, the Neom project site and close to Al-Khobar.

Gulf Centre United believes there is scope for carrying out significant work related to the Neom project, which is estimated to be worth $500bn.

“We are expecting to make our final decision on the location for our fabrication yard in Saudi Arabia before the end of the year,” said Yazji.

“We are expecting to see a surge in demand for the type of equipment that we make that screens sand and crushes rock so that it can be used in concrete. We are very optimistic about our prospects in Saudi Arabia over the coming years.

“We are keeping a close eye on plans to build new concrete factories in Saudi Arabia at the moment.”

Gulf Centre United is additionally looking to leverage its experience in supplying remediation equipment in Saudi Arabia, where there are also plans for major remediation projects.

“We have a lot of areas of specialisation that are likely to be very valuable as we ramp up our work in Saudi Arabia,” said Yazji.

Although Yazji is confident that his company will see rapid growth both within Kuwait and regionally, the expansion is unlikely to be easy, given the current business environment.

Between the start of 2020 and the beginning of May this year, Kuwait’s total value of all active oil, gas and chemicals projects declined by 65 per cent, from $67.1bn to just $23.5bn.

Many industry stakeholders say that breaking the political deadlock is essential for reversing the slowdown in activity in the country’s industrial sector.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11037977/main3527.jpg
Wil Crisp

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Kuwait awards $381m oil project

    23 September 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has awarded an oil project contract worth KD117m ($381m) to India’s Megha Engineering & Infrastructure (Meil).

    The Supreme Purchasing Committee for Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) approved the contract last month, paving the way for the official award.

    The project focuses on a water separation unit at the Al-Rawdatain facility in Kuwait.

    The water separation facility will be developed at Gathering Centre 25 (GC-25), along with a pumping facility at GC-30.

    The project will deliver a wide-ranging upgrade of processing and utility infrastructure, including new low-pressure separation and gas-handling equipment such as a three-phase wet separator package, a gas knock-out drum and associated low-pressure gas pipelines, as well as a high-integrity pressure protection system and a high-pressure flare.

    Meil will develop the new three-phase low-pressure wet separation facility at GC-25.

    The main process equipment will include two wet separator packages, each with a capacity of 150,000 barrels of liquid a day, and a low-pressure gas knock-out drum with a capacity of 53 million standard cubic feet a day, together with associated gas-handling facilities.

    The facility will also incorporate an effluent water treatment and transfer system, including an effluent water balance tank equipped with microbubble flotation and induced gas flotation systems, as well as transfer pumps.

    Additional GC-25 facilities will include fuel gas treatment, chemical injection, oil recovery and flare connections, along with firewater and deluge systems.

    The scope also covers control and safety systems, substations, and associated civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works.

    At GC-30, the project will focus on treated-water filtration and high-pressure injection infrastructure.

    The scope includes nutshell filters and associated feed pumps with a combined capacity of approximately 500,000 barrels of water a day.

    Booster and injection pumps will transfer treated effluent water to designated injection wells.

    Additional facilities at GC-30 will include fuel gas treatment, sludge collection and disposal systems, oil recovery systems, control and safety systems, substations, laboratory and workshop facilities, and associated civil, structural, piping, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works.

    The project also includes transfer pipelines connecting GC-25, GC-15 and GC-30.

    Meil will carry out modifications to existing tanks at GC-30, as well as process and utility tie-ins, electrical and instrumentation modifications and other infrastructure required to integrate the new facilities with KOC’s existing assets.

    Meil’s responsibilities cover the project lifecycle from design and engineering through procurement, construction, testing, pre-commissioning, commissioning, start-up and performance testing.

    The contract also includes operation, maintenance, repair and insurance responsibilities for the designated facilities during the applicable operations and maintenance period.

    Seven companies submitted bids for the project last November.

    The full list of bids was:

    • Meil (India) – KD117m ($381m)
    • Mechanical Engineering & Contracting Company (Kuwait) – KD130m
    • Spetco (Kuwait) – KD158m
    • Al-Kharafi (Kuwait) – KD164m
    • China Oil HBP Science & Technology (China) – KD169m
    • Alghanim International (Kuwait) – KD169m
    • Jereh Oil & Gas Engineering (China) – KD191m

    In October last year, KOC awarded Meil a separate contract for a project to develop a gas sweetening and recovery facility in west Kuwait.

    Meil submitted the lowest bid for that tender, at KD69.2m ($225.5m), in February 2025.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19911322/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp
  • Kuwait refinery project on track for year-end completion

    23 September 2026

     

    A $65m project to replace a substation at the Mina Al-Ahmadi (MAA) refinery is on schedule to be mechanically complete before the end of the year, according to industry sources.

    The project is being executed by India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which was awarded the contract in October 2024.

    One source said: “This project is approaching completion and is currently on schedule to be completed before the end of the year, although it could still see delays related to the ongoing regional conflict.”

    The client is state-owned downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC).

    Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water & Renewable Energy (MEW) is also involved in the project and will provide final approvals and sign-off.

    The scope of the project includes:

    • Construction of a substation
    • Installation of transformers
    • Installation of medium-voltage switchgear
    • Installation of low-voltage auxiliary systems
    • Installation of network protection systems
    • Installation of disconnecting switches
    • Installation of surge arrestors
    • Installation of feeder breakers and cubicles
    • Installation of low-voltage A/C and D/C equipment
    • Installation of battery banks and battery chargers
    • Installation of related relay and control panel boards
    • Installation of fire alarm and fire protection equipment
    • Installation of a SCADA system
    • Installation of cables
    • Civil works
    • Associated facilities

    The current project to replace a substation at the MAA refinery closely resembles another project tendered by KNPC more than a decade ago, which L&T also won.

    On 18 May 2015, KNPC signed a contract with L&T to build a new 240MW substation at the MAA refinery, valued at KD21.866m.

    The new substation, known as M20, was designed to replace an existing substation that was considered old and obsolete.

    Mohammed Al-Mutairi, who was KNPC’s chief executive at the time, said the substation building would be explosion-proof and use state-of-the-art control systems.

    He said the station’s capacity would increase from 180MW to 240MW, supplying most of the refinery’s electricity needs.

    Given the similarities between the two projects, L&T has been able to reuse some designs, creating efficiencies, according to industry sources.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19911319/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp
  • Contractor wins $208m Almoosa hospital MEP contract

    23 September 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Riyadh-based construction firm BEC Arabia has won a SR781m ($208m) contract for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works at Almoosa Hospital in Al-Khobar.

    Saudi Arabia’s Almoosa Health Company awarded the contract.

    The hospital complex consists of two towers: a 24-storey in-patient tower with 380 beds, and an 11-storey tower with 224 clinics and 113 additional treatment spaces.

    It will be built on a 45,000-square-metre site.

    A podium spanning the ninth and 10th floors will connect the two towers.

    The hospital will also include parking for 1,700 cars.

    BEC Arabia won the SR656m ($175m) main construction contract for the hospital in November last year.

    In August 2025, MEED reported that Almoosa Health Company had announced it had secured a sharia-compliant credit facility worth SR650m ($173m) from Banque Saudi Fransi.

    In a statement published on the Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul), the company said the seven-year facility would be used to support its expansion and growth strategy.

    Lebanon’s Dar, US-based Perkins&Will and French design firm Pierre-Yves Rochon designed the project.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19910889/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • UAE to develop integrated waste-to-resource pilot

    23 September 2026

    Emirates Biotech and United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) have launched a pilot project in Al-Ain that could provide a model for larger waste-to-resource facilities.

    The project involves developing the UAE’s first integrated organic-waste valorisation pilot plant, which will test whether food waste and compostable packaging can be processed together to recover resources and reduce waste sent to landfill.

    Located near the UAEU campus, the 40kg-a-day facility will process organic waste to produce renewable biogas and nutrient-rich compost. The project is intended to generate technical and operating data that could support the development of larger-scale facilities.

    Emirates Biotech and UAEU will design, build and operate the pilot plant as part of a two-year research project running from August 2026 to August 2028. Installation and commissioning are expected to be completed by August 2027.

    The plant will combine anaerobic digestion and composting. Anaerobic digestion will convert the organic waste into renewable biogas, while the resulting digestate will be composted to produce nutrient-rich compost.

    A laboratory-scale assessment will also examine the potential to convert the biogas into renewable hydrogen.

    Food waste accounts for nearly 40% of daily municipal solid waste in the UAE, according to Emirates Biotech, and much of it is currently disposed of in landfills.

    The pilot will therefore assess the technical and operational feasibility of recovering value from two waste streams through a single integrated process.

    If successfully scaled, Emirates Biotech says an integrated organic-waste valorisation plant could reduce CO₂ emissions by 89% compared with landfilling.

    The project is expected to provide a scalable and modular model for converting food waste and compostable packaging into renewable biogas and compost, with the findings intended to inform the development of larger waste-to-resource facilities.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19908972/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Contractors prepare Oxagon Highway 55 bids

    23 September 2026

     

    Contractors are preparing to submit bids on 28 September for a design-and-build contract for permanent upgrade works on Highway 55 in the kingdom’s Oxagon region.

    The first phase of the project includes constructing 14 kilometres of road, with two lanes in each direction. It also includes one bridge and three interchanges.

    The project duration is 22 months.

    Highway 55 connects the Red Sea coast with the mainland in northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is currently the only road providing north-south connectivity between Duba and the Neom region.

    MEED reported exclusively in August 2025 that contractors had submitted responses to an expression of interest notice that Neom had issued earlier that month.

    The project is expected to support cargo movement from Duba Port to other parts of the kingdom and the wider region.

    Last year, Neom tested a pilot initiative by handling a shipment that travelled from Cairo via the Port of Safaga, across the Red Sea to the Port of Neom, and then inland to Erbil, Iraq.

    In a statement, Neom said: “The shipment travelled through an intermodal corridor spanning over 900 kilometres, marking a significant milestone in the kingdom’s transformation into a regional and global logistics hub.”

    The Port of Neom is located on the Red Sea near the Arar border, a key entry point into Iraq.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19907876/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal