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  Read the February 2026 MEED Business Review

  2 February 2026

  Download / Subscribe / 14-day trial access

  After years of cautious capital discipline, upstream oil and gas spending is gathering pace across the Middle East and beyond, with 2026 shaping up to be a statement year for investment.

  In the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, oil companies are pushing ahead with projects deemed critical to long-term energy security, even as oil prices soften. Gas and LNG developments are taking an increasingly prominent role, reflecting rising power demand and the search for lower-carbon fuels.

  Globally, North America is set to lead upstream spending through to 2030, but the Middle East remains a close follower, underpinned by low-cost reserves and expanding infrastructure. Read more about what’s driving the next wave of upstream investment here.

  Meanwhile, February’s market focus covers Qatar, where Doha is beginning to reap the rewards of its long-term gas investment, strategic spending and diplomatic efforts.

  This edition also includes MEED’s latest ranking of GCC water developers. In this package, we look at how the water sector has regained momentum, as the value of public-private partnership and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract awards for Mena water infrastructure schemes reached a record level in 2025. 

  In the latest issue, we also examine how Iran's recent protests have elevated regional uncertainty, and reveal that GCC contract awards declined by almost a third in 2025. The team also speaks to Mohamed Youssef of AtkinsRealis about demand drivers and challenges for the Canadian EPC specialist; discusses projects market resilience with US engineering firm Parsons' Pierre Santoni; and highlights how DP World underpins Dubai’s economic growth strategy. 

  MEED’s February edition is also bursting with exclusive leadership insight. Saeed Mohammed Al-Qatami, CEO of Deyaar Development, talks about the need for tomorrow’s communities to move beyond conventional real estate thinking; Ali Al-Dhaheri, managing director and CEO of Tadweer Group, explains why waste-to-energy infrastructure is critical to future energy needs; and Dal Bhatti of global insurance broker Marsh predicts a breakthrough year for Middle East construction in 2026.

  We hope our valued subscribers enjoy the February 2026 issue of MEED Business Review. 

  

   

  Must-read sections in the February 2026 issue of MEED Business Review include:

  > AGENDA: 
  > Mena upstream spending set to soar
  > Global upstream spending to grow

  > CURRENT AFFAIRS: Iran protests elevate regional uncertainty

  INDUSTRY REPORT: MEED's GCC water developer ranking > Regional IWP deals show cautious growth > Pipeline boom lifts Mena water awards

  > PROJECTS: Contract awards decline in 2025

  > LEADERSHIP: Tomorrow’s communities must heal us, not just house us

  > INTERVIEW: Building faster without breaking the programme

  > PORTS: DP World underpins Dubai’s economic growth strategy

  > INTERVIEW: Projects show resilience

  > LEADERSHIP: Energy security starts with rethinking waste

  > LEADERSHIP: Why 2026 is a breakthrough year for Middle East construction

  > MARKET FOCUS QATAR: 
  > COMMENT: Qatar’s strategy falls into place
  > GVT & ECONOMY: Qatar enters 2026 with heady expectations
  > BANKING: Qatar banks search for growth
  > OIL & GAS: QatarEnergy achieves strategic oil and gas goals in 2025
  > POWER & WATER: Dukhan solar award drives Qatar’s utility sector
  > CONSTRUCTION: Infrastructure investments underpin Qatar construction

  > MEED COMMENTS: 
  > Kuwait oil tender delays cause problems for key contractors
  > International Financial Centre Oman will have to differentiate
  > Chinese firm’s Riyadh skyscraper debut signals a shift
  > Ras Al-Khaimah sewage award marks key milestone

  > GULF PROJECTS INDEX: Gulf projects index enters 2026 upbeat

  > DECEMBER 2025 CONTRACTS: Middle East contract awards

  > ECONOMIC DATA: Data drives regional projects

  > OPINION: Trump’s distraction is the region’s gain

  > BUSINESS OUTLOOK: Finance, oil and gas, construction, power and water contracts

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

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  MEED Editorial
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  Turner & Townsend to manage Rak Central construction

  2 February 2026

  UK-based Turner & Townsend has been appointed to provide project management services for the Rak Central mixed-use development in the UAE’s northern emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah.

  Rak Central features residential and commercial districts.

  The project will be developed in phases.

  The first phase includes 1 million square feet of commercial office space. It also involves developing 34 residential plots, which will be offered to developers to build residential towers up to 45 storeys.

  The development will comprise three hotels offering more than 1,000 keys and 4,000 residential apartments across five interconnected buildings.

  The first phase is set to open in 2027.

  It is being constructed on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Salem Al-Qasimi Street. 

  In September last year, Ras Al-Khaimah-based master developer Marjan appointed Dubai-based firm Alec as the main contractor for its new headquarters and a mixed-use office complex at Rak Central.

  The complex has been designed by US-based architectural firm Gensler.

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  Yasir Iqbal
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  Adnoc Refining negotiates with naphtha upgrade bidders

  2 February 2026

  

   

  The refining business of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc Refining) is in negotiations with contractors that submitted bids for a key project to maximise naphtha production from its Abu Dhabi refineries.

  Adnoc Refining produces approximately 11 million tonnes a year (t/y) of naphtha, which is categorised into two types: crude naphtha, produced from crude processing in the refineries; and condensate naphtha, obtained from processing condensates.

  The project aims to upgrade Adnoc Refining’s naphtha output to more valuable gasoline products, thereby increasing its overall refinery margin.

  MEED previously reported that contractors had submitted commercial proposals for the naphtha upgrade project by 24 December.

  Since receiving commercial bids, Adnoc Refining has been in commercial negotiations with bidders since January, although no contractor is believed to have emerged as a frontrunner to win the contract, sources told MEED.

  According to sources, Adnoc Refining is seeking a target price of $700m, with bidders asked to match that figure. “At this point, the situation is fluid, and there is room for change. Expect flexibility from both sides [project operator and bidders] in the price negotiation process,” one source said.

  Adnoc Refining issued the main tender for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the project in May last year. Contractors that submitted technical bids for the project in June are thought to include:

  • Archirodon (Greece)
  • Enppi (Egypt) / Petrojet (Egypt)
  • Kalpataru Projects International (India)
  • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
  • Petrofac (UK)
  • Tecnimont (Italy)

  Following the submission of technical bids, Adnoc Refining engaged bidders in a series of technical clarification meetings, sources previously told MEED.

  Kalpataru Projects International was later disqualified from the tendering exercise by Adnoc Refining, as per sources.

  Adnoc Refining then issued a notification on 4 December to contractors bidding for the contract, requesting that they submit commercial bids by 24 December.

  The main scope of work for the project is to develop an integrated naphtha-producing complex comprising light and heavy naphtha hydrotreater units, light naphtha isomerisation units, two heavy naphtha reformer units and a 50,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) continuous catalytic reformer.

  Separately, Adnoc Refining has stipulated that licensed process technology from France-based Axens will be deployed to operate the units.

  The naphtha upgrade project being advanced by Adnoc Refining is separate from another project being undertaken by the operator to convert incremental volumes of its naphtha output into commercially valuable jet fuel. MEED recently reported that Adnoc Refining awarded a feed contract for the project to Engineers India Limited (EIL).

  Feed-to-EPC contest

  Adnoc Group owns the majority 65% stake in Adnoc Refining, with Italian energy major Eni and Austria’s OMV owning 20% and 15% stakes, respectively, as a result of a $5.8bn transaction completed in 2019.

  Adnoc Refining has a total refining capacity of 922,000 b/d of crude oil and condensates. The company produces over 40 million t/y of refined products, such as liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha, gasoline, jet fuel, gas oil, base oil, fuel oil and petrochemicals feedstocks such as propylene. The company’s specialty products include carbon black and anode coke.

  Adnoc Refining had started a front-end engineering and design (feed)-to-EPC competition for the naphtha upgrade project in March 2024, MEED previously reported, selecting UK-headquartered Petrofac and South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction to participate in the feed-to-EPC contest for the project.

  The project operator eventually cancelled the feed-to-EPC competition, sources told MEED. The reason for the cancellation could be that “prices that were submitted by the bidders were above budget”, a source said.

  However, the EPC tender issued by Adnoc Refining for the naphtha upgrade project is understood to be based on the feed submission by Petrofac, according to sources.

  The naphtha upgrade project itself is a leaner version of an estimated $3bn-plus project undertaken by Adnoc Refining a few years ago to develop a large-scale refining facility with the capacity to produce 4.2 million t/y of gasoline and 1.6 million t/y of aromatics.

  Adnoc Refining cancelled the gasoline and aromatics project in 2019. The operator has “retained some elements and units that were meant to be developed” in the ongoing naphtha upgrade project, a source previously said.

  

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Saudi Arabia tenders Al-Ula wellfield expansion contract

  2 February 2026

  Saudi Arabia’s Water Transmission Company (WTCO) has opened bidding for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to develop and expand the Sharaan wellfield in Al-Ula, in Medina province.

  The submission deadline is 15 February.

  The project is divided into two stages. The pre-expansion phase covers upgrading and rehabilitation works at 13 existing operating groundwater wells.

  This includes replacing diesel generators at the PS1 pump station, upgrading the fuel system and carrying out electrical retrofitting across all wells.

  Each well will be equipped with a dedicated generator to allow continuous, autonomous 24-hour operation.

  The expansion phase, covering phase one only, includes drilling eight new production wells and one observation well. It also includes the construction of a 5,000-cubic-metre ground-level storage reservoir.

  Additional works include installing two high-capacity pumps and developing a carbon steel pipeline network integrated with PS1 to deliver the full design flow.

  According to the tender notice, contractors must demonstrate experience in groundwater well drilling, power generation systems, electrical and mechanical works, pump stations and water transmission networks.

  WTCO is also moving forward with procurement for the Ras Mohaisen-Baha-Mecca and Jubail-Buraidah independent water transmission system projects under the public-private partnership model.

  The state-owned water utility said qualified EPC contractors have until 5 February to submit technical and financial bids for the 542,000-cubic-metres-a-day Ras Mohaisen project.

  The bid submission deadline for the 348-kilometre-long Jubail-Buraidah project was 1 February.

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  Mark Dowdall
• 
  Riyadh qualifies five groups for One-Stop Stations PPP

  2 February 2026

  Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

  Saudi Arabia’s Roads General Authority (RGA), in collaboration with the National Centre for Privatisation & Public-Private Partnership (NCP), has qualified five groups for a contract to develop the kingdom’s One-Stop Station project on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

  The groups include:

  • Al-Ayuni Investment & Contracting Company / Al-Jeri
  • IC Ictas / Algihaz Holding / Al-Drees
  • TechTrade Global / Al-Habbas / Fuelax / Markabat / Naqleen Company
  • Petromin / Red Sea Housing
  • Asyad / Sasco

  The project includes the development of facilities at several locations across the RGA’s 73,600-kilometre intercity road network.

  The facilities include refuelling stations, commercial outlets, parking lots, driver rest areas, vehicle maintenance centres and other hospitality amenities.

  The project will be implemented under a 30-year design, build, finance, operate and maintain (DBFOM) contract, and will be tendered in three waves comprising six packages.

  The first wave will include the initial package, the second wave will encompass the second and third packages, and the third wave will cover the remaining three packages.

  In August last year, 49 Saudi and international firms expressed interest in the contract to develop the kingdom’s One-Stop Station project, as MEED reported.

  In January, Saudi Arabia launched a National Privatisation Strategy, which aims to mobilise $64bn in private sector capital by 2030.

  The strategy was approved by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Finance and chairman of the National Centre for Privatisation (NCP), Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan.

  The strategy builds on the privatisation programme, which was first introduced in 2018. It will focus on unlocking state-owned assets for private investment and privatising selected government services.

  The value of PPP contracts in Saudi Arabia has risen sharply over the past few years as the government seeks to develop projects through the private sector and diversify funding sources

  PPPs have been used in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region for over two decades, but have primarily been limited to power generation and water desalination projects, where developers benefit from guaranteed take-or-pay power purchase agreements that eliminate demand risk.

  As capital expenditure continues to increase, the NCP is expected to add dozens more PPPs to its future pipeline to reduce the state’s financial burden and stimulate private sector involvement in the local projects market.

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  Yasir Iqbal