Algeria’s industrial strategy builds momentum
8 July 2025
Project activity across Algeria’s energy, industrial and manufacturing sectors is steadily building as the country focuses on a vertically integrated strategy that leverages the exploitation of its natural resources.
The country is making steady progress on projects to extract deposits of gas, lithium, iron and phosphates.
At the same time, it is progressing projects that use these natural resources to produce high-value products within the country, rather than simply exporting the raw materials.
The projects utilising raw materials within Algeria include a wide range of iron and steel processing facilities, fertiliser plants and factories to produce cars.
Upstream gas
Last month, Algeria awarded five out of the six oil and gas exploration licences it offered during its 2024 bidding round, a move viewed as a success by stakeholders in the country’s energy sector.
The companies that were awarded blocks included France’s TotalEnergies, state-owned QatarEnergy, Italy’s Eni and PTTEP of Thailand.
Commenting on the licensing round, one industry source said: “Successfully engaging with large international oil companies that have significant technical and financial resources is a big step forward for Algeria’s oil and gas sector.”
The latest bid round was the first to be held under Law 13-19, Algeria’s current oil and gas investment law, which was issued on 11 December 2019.
The 2019 law replaced a previous law created in 2005, which governed the last bid round in 2014.
During the previous bid round, only four blocks were awarded out of the 31 offered.
If the 2024 bidding round had been unsuccessful like the 2014 bidding round, this would have been a major setback to the country’s oil and gas strategy and raised significant concerns about the suitability of the 2019 law that governs licensing deals.
The latest licensing round was followed by meetings between Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and delegations from US-based oil and gas companies ExxonMobil and Chevron.
Awarding the licences and holding talks with Exxon and Chevron sets the scene for further upstream development projects in Algeria and will potentially boost domestic gas production in the country.
Successfully engaging with large international oil companies that have significant technical and financial resources is a big step forward for Algeria’s oil and gas sector
Industry source
Phosphates push
Extractive projects in Algeria’s mining sector are also making steady progress.
One of the biggest mining projects in the country is the Bled El-Hadba phosphate project, which is estimated to be worth $7bn.
The Bled El-Hadba phosphate mine has over 1.2 billion tonnes of estimated total reserves, including 800 million tonnes of estimated exploitable reserves, making it one of the biggest mines of its kind in the world.
A joint venture deal to develop the project was signed in March 2022 between four Algerian and Chinese companies.
The resulting joint-stock company is called Algerian Chinese Fertilisers Company (ACFC) and the project is expected to ultimately produce 5.4 million tonnes of fertilisers a year from the Bled El-Hadba phosphate mine in the eastern Algerian region of Tebessa.
ACFC was established by the Algerian companies Asmidal and Manadjim El-Djazair (Manal), which own a 56% stake in the company, and the Chinese groups Wuhuan and Tianan, which hold the remaining 44% stake.
Since the deal was signed, the project has seen good progress.
Last month, Saipem was awarded the front-end engineering and design (feed) contract related to the project.
Additionally, the Oued Keberit phosphate production and processing complex, which forms part of the $7bn project and will process phosphates extracted from the mine, is on track to come online in 2027, according to industry sources.
Iron mining
Another key mining project in the country is the Gara Djebilet iron ore mine in Algeria’s western Tindouf province.
The Gara Djebilet mine was commissioned in July 2022, with plans to produce 2 million tonnes a year (t/y) by 2026.
Officials have said they want to boost this to 50 million tonnes of iron ore annually by 2040.
It is expected that boosting production at the facility could require between $7bn and $10bn in investment.
Gara Djebilet is understood to hold the world’s largest iron ore reserves, with an estimated 3.5 billion tonnes at the location, of which around 1.7 billion tonnes are available for exploitation.
The mine is expected to bolster Algeria’s steel industry by reducing the need for iron imports.
Car manufacturing
Low-cost steel is expected to support the country’s expanding automotive sector, which uses steel to produce parts.
In March 2025, Great Wall Motor, one of China’s top 10 car manufacturers, announced plans to build its first factory in Algeria, joining other companies in the country, including Fiat, Peugeot and Kia.
Last November, the Algerian Ministry of Industry & Pharmaceutical Production announced that it had granted permits for six new vehicle manufacturing factories in the country.
In March 2023, the carmaker Stellantis announced plans to spend more than €200m ($213m) to manufacture several Fiat models in Algeria.
The plans involved the construction of a plant, which is yet to come online.
Stellantis stated that it anticipates the plant will generate nearly 2,000 local jobs and have an annual production capacity of 90,000 vehicles upon completion.
Petrochemicals production
Algeria’s growing automotive industry is also expected to use plastics derived from petrochemicals that are produced in the country using Algerian natural gas as a feedstock.
UK-based engineering contractor Petrofac and its partner China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corporation (HQCEC) are currently executing a petrochemicals project in Algeria, which is valued at approximately $1.5bn.
Petrofac and HQCEC signed the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Algerian petrochemicals project in June 2023.
The project is being developed in the Arzew Industrial Zone to the west of Algiers and the contract was signed with STEP Polymers, a wholly owned subsidiary of Algeria’s state-owned oil and gas company Sonatrach.
When the contract was signed, Petrofac said that its portion of the project was valued at about $1bn.
The project’s scope includes designing and building two major integrated processing units.
It includes the delivery of a new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit and polypropylene production unit, as well as associated utilities and infrastructure for the site.
It is expected to produce 550,000 tonnes of polypropylene a year.
Additionally, plans are being developed for zinc production projects in the country.
In November last year, Western Mediterranean Zinc (WMZ), an Algerian-Australian joint venture, signed a $336m contract with Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Company (Sinosteel MECC) to develop the Tala Hamza zinc project in Algeria’s Bejaia Province.
WMZ is a joint venture of Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Terramin, which has a 49% stake, and Algerian state-owned companies Enterprise Nationale des Produits Miniers Non-Ferreux et des Substances Utiles, which owns 48.5%, and Office National de Recherche Geologique et Miniere, which owns 2.5%.
The project scope included the development of a mine with the capacity to produce two million tonnes a year of zinc and a processing plant with the capacity to process the same volume of material.
It is expected that the production of zinc will support the country’s battery manufacturing industry, which in turn will support the production of electric cars.
Fertiliser focus
The country’s fertiliser sector is expected to expand as phosphate production is ramped up.
Earlier this month, MEED revealed that Sonatrach was developing a project that will expand the country’s fertiliser plant located in Arzew.
Sonatrach has not publicly said when it expects to issue the invitation to bid for the main contract for the project.
The original $2.4bn contract to develop the Arzew fertiliser complex was executed by a joint venture of South Korea’s Daewoo E&C and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation.
The joint venture won the contract in April 2008 and completed the facility in April 2013.
Steady development
By making steady progress with an integrated strategy that leverages the exploitation of raw materials to support the production of higher-value exports, Algeria is creating an industrial environment that presents significant opportunities for companies across multiple sectors.
If the country’s relative political stability continues, more foreign investors will likely become involved in projects within the country, and the country’s project market will continue to expand.
MEED’s August 2025 report on the Maghreb also includes:
> ECONOMY: Maghreb economies battle trading headwinds
> POWER & WATER: Slow year for Maghreb power and water awards
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Deadlines extended for Kuwait oil projects worth $2.5bn
30 July 2025
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Kuwait’s state-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has extended bid deadlines for six vital oil projects, which are estimated to be worth a total of $2.5bn.
The first contract, estimated to be worth KD292m ($951m), is focused on developing a separation facility in the NK SA/BA Area, close to Gathering Centre 23 (GC-23) and GC-24.
The scope of the contract also includes a new injection facility at GC-31 and effluent water injection networks in north Kuwait. The project’s latest bid deadline has been set for 5 August.
The second contract is to develop the planned Mutriba remote boosting facility in northwest Kuwait. It was originally tendered earlier this year with a bid submission deadline of 29 June. The deadline has now been extended to 17 August.
The project has an estimated budget of about KD130m ($420m) and its scope includes:
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The onshore Mutriba oil field is located in northwest Kuwait.
In October 2024, KOC announced that it was preparing to tender a project management contract for a scheme to develop the field.
At the time, it said four international companies had been invited to participate in the tender process. These were:
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KOC also said that the list of qualified companies could be extended before the invitation to bid was issued.
The third project, estimated to be worth $100m, is for an effluent water injection network in north Kuwait. The bid deadline has been extended to 5 August.
Effluent water injection or water flooding is a secondary hydrocarbons recovery technique where produced water is injected into a well’s formation under high pressure and temperature conditions to recover more of the oil initially in place.
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The fifth project that has had its deadline extended is focused on developing Jurassic Light Oil (JLO) export facilities and upgrading the existing export network.
The main contract bid submission date for the project, which is understood to have a budget of KD175m ($569m), has been changed to 3 August.
The project was originally tendered in November last year with a bid deadline of 1 December 2024. Other recent deadlines have included 15 July, 24 June, 27 May, 27 April and 6 April.
In an announcement in April last year, KOC prequalified up to 15 contractors to bid for these projects:
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In September 2024, KOC announced a second list of 13 prequalified contractors, with Hyundai Heavy Industries and NMDC Energy removed from the list.
At the time, KOC said that companies not included on the list could file a complaint against their non-inclusion before the official invitation to bid on the project.
It is unclear whether more prequalified companies have been added or removed from the list since September.
The sixth project that has seen its bid deadline extended is focused on developing separation facilities at GC-25 and a water injection facility at GC-30.
The contract is estimated to be worth KD104m ($338m). In the latest extension, the bid deadline has been set for 10 August.
Kuwait is in the middle of an upstream projects push, in line with its goal of producing 4 million barrels a day of oil by 2035.
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Arada awards $16m retail complex construction deal
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Sharjah-based real estate developer Arada has awarded a AED60m ($16m) contract to build the Masaar Central project in the Suyouh district of Sharjah.
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Construction is expected to begin soon, with completion slated for 2026.
Masaar Central will offer retail, dining, wellness and education facilities over an area of 53,000 square feet.
In June last year, Arada awarded a AED830m ($226m) contract to Intermass Engineering & Contracting to build 597 units in the Saro cluster of the Masaar project.
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Contract award nears for King Salman airport runway
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King Salman International Airport Development Company (KSIADC) has received best and final offers (bafos) for a design-and-build contract to develop the third runway at King Salman International airport (KSIA) in Riyadh.
"Bafos were submitted earlier this month [in July] and the contract is expected to be finalised soon," a source close to the project told MEED.
It is understood that the third and fourth runways will add to the two existing runways at Riyadh’s King Khalid International airport, which will eventually become part of KSIA.
In February, MEED exclusively reported that firms had submitted prequalification documents on 18 January for a contract to develop the third runway and taxiways at KSIA.
KSIADC, which is backed by Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle the Public Investment Fund, received interest from firms in December last year for the package.
KSIADC previously prequalified firms for the main engineering, procurement and construction packages and early and enabling works, as well as other elements of the construction work. These included specialist systems and integration; materials and equipment; engineering and design; professional services; health, safety, security, environment and wellbeing services; modular installation and prefabrication; local content; and environmental, social and governance (ESG) and other services.
The entire scheme is divided into eight assets:
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In August last year, KSIADC appointed several architectural and design firms for the various elements of the project.
KSIADC confirmed that it had signed up UK-based Foster + Partners to design the airport’s masterplan, including the terminals, six runways and a multi-asset real estate area.
US-based engineering firm Jacobs will provide specialist consultancy services for the masterplan and the design of the new runways.
The client also confirmed the appointment of UK-based engineering firm Mace for the delivery partner role on the project.
The airspace design consultancy contract was awarded to local firm Nera.
Mega airport project
The project covers an area of about 57 square kilometres (sq km), allowing for six parallel runways. It will include the existing terminals at King Khalid International airport, as well as 12 sq km of airport support facilities, residential and recreational facilities, retail outlets and other logistics real estate.
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The airport aims to accommodate up to 120 million passengers by 2030 and 185 million by 2050. The goal for cargo is to process 3.5 million tonnes a year by 2050.
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It also aims to increase air cargo traffic to 4.5 million tonnes and raise the country’s total air connections to more than 250 destinations.
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NMDC Energy begins fabrication at Saudi Arabia yard
29 July 2025
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Abu Dhabi-owned contractor NMDC Energy has started fabrication activities at its new yard in Ras Al-Khair, Saudi Arabia.
Built at a cost of AED200m ($54.5m), the yard covers 400,000 square metres within the Ras Al-Khair Special Economic Zone in the kingdom’s Eastern Province. It has a production capacity of 40,000 tonnes a year.
NMDC Energy held a steel-cutting ceremony on 28 July to mark the start of operations at the Ras Al-Khair yard.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange-listed company inaugurated the facility in mid-January.
NMDC Energy signed a memorandum of understanding with Aramco to build the facility in 2018, when it was known as National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).
Nine offshore jackets are currently in production for NMDC Energy’s client, Saudi Aramco.
More than 1,800 employees will be mobilised from Abu Dhabi to the Saudi Arabia yard, NMDC Energy said.
“The Ras Al-Khair yard is central to NMDC Energy’s Saudi strategy and localisation roadmap. Over the past five years, the company has reinvested billions of riyals into the Saudi economy and is on track to increase its In-Kingdom Total Value Add score to 39% by 2025 and 51% by 2028,” NMDC Energy added.
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Gulf heads into a new era of aviation; Maghreb’s resilience rises despite global pressures; GCC banks expand issuance amid demand
Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2025 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
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Miral moves Harry Potter theme park bid deadline
29 July 2025
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Abu Dhabi’s Miral has extended the bid submission deadline for a tender to build a Harry Potter-themed expansion at the Warner Bros World Yas Island entertainment destination in Abu Dhabi.
Earlier this month, MEED exclusively reported that the tender for the estimated AED2bn-AED3bn ($545m-$816m) main construction works had been issued to contractors, with bids initially due on 28 July.
Miral has extended the bid submission deadline until 4 August, according to sources.
The scope of the Warner Bros World phase two expansion includes adding 40,000 square metres (sq m) to the existing theme park. This will include a Harry Potter-themed zone with three new rides, retail outlets, and food and beverage facilities.
Enabling works for the project have begun and are being undertaken by local firm NSCC International. Another local firm, Emirates Electrical & Instrumentation Company, is carrying out the early works.
Canadian engineering firm EllisDon is the project consultant, and French firm Egis is the lead designer.
According to media reports, the Abu Dhabi project will be the world’s sixth Harry Potter-themed park. The others are in Florida and California in the US, Beijing in China, Osaka in Japan and Leavesden in the UK.
The Abu Dhabi project was first announced in November 2022.
Yas Waterworld
Miral has developed a series of theme parks and other entertainment-related attractions on Yas Island, working with several local and international contractors.
On 1 July, Miral opened a new 16,900 sq m expansion of its Yas Waterworld park to the public.
The expansion added 3.3 kilometres of slide sections to the park. The addition of 18 new rides and attractions, bringing the total number of rides to more than 60, is expected to increase visitor capacity by 20%.
Construction was carried out by local contractor Alec.
Disney park
In May, The Walt Disney Company and Miral signed an agreement to build a Disney theme park resort on Yas Island.
Disney, which is based in the US, said the Abu Dhabi site will be its seventh theme park resort. The others are in California and Florida in the US, Paris in France, Hong Kong and Shanghai in China, and Tokyo in Japan.
In a statement, Disney noted that the UAE is located within a four-hour flight of one-third of the world’s population, making it a significant gateway for tourism. It is also home to one of the world's busiest airline hubs, with 120 million passengers travelling through Abu Dhabi and Dubai each year.
The Disney theme park resort in Abu Dhabi will include entertainment areas, themed accommodations, dining venues and retail experiences.
In 2023, Miral opened SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, also on Yas Island. Alec was the contractor for the estimated $565m project.
In 2018, Miral opened the Warner Bros theme park on Yas Island. Belgium’s Besix was the contractor for the estimated $531m project.
Other Miral projects have included the Etihad Arena and the indoor climbing and skydive centre Clymb. Bam International of the Netherlands was the contractor for the arena and Germany’s Zublin was the contractor for Clymb.
Yas Island was launched as a project in 2006 by local developer Aldar Properties. The original centrepiece attractions were the Yas Marina Circuit, which hosts Formula 1 motor racing’s annual Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and the Ferrari World theme park.
READ THE AUGUST 2025 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF
Gulf heads into a new era of aviation; Maghreb’s resilience rises despite global pressures; GCC banks expand issuance amid demand
Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2025 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
> AGENDA 1: Middle East invests in giant airports> AGENDA 2: Broader region upgrades its airports> AGENDA 3: Global air travel shifts east> CURRENT AFFAIRS: Syria wrestles fragile security situation> GCC BANKS: Gulf banks navigate turbulent times> CONSTRUCTION: Soudah Peaks outlines project construction plans> INTERVIEW: SETS leads Saudi heritage preservation charge> LEADERSHIP: From plastic leakage to leadership in the Gulf> MAGHREB MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb pushes for stabilityTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14358463/main.jpg