US-headquartered engineering services company Becht is in talks with local companies in Saudi Arabia and Oman regarding signing partnership deals as it looks to expand its presence in the Middle East, according to the company’s director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“We already have a local agency partner in the UAE, and we are in discussions with potential agency partners in Saudi Arabia and Oman,” Chris van der Beek told MEED in an interview.

He said the company also expects to finalise several downstream contracts in Oman over the next 12 months.

“We are in talks about potential contracts at the moment, and we are expecting a number of them to be finalised over the next 12 months,” said Van der Beek.

“The contracts are expected to relate to refineries or refinery-integrated petrochemical facilities.”

Van der Beek said the contracts that the company expects to sign are focused on facilities that are either operational or in the final stages of construction.

Company profile

Becht is headquartered in New Jersey and offers engineering solutions, plant services and software tools to clients globally.

The company already has active contracts across the Middle East and is expecting to win more contracts from existing clients as well as new clients.

Becht has offices in North America, Latin America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

It is already well established in the US, with more than 95 per cent of the refineries in the US and Canada on Becht’s roster of clients.

The company has made several significant acquisitions over recent years. These include acquiring the Dutch business consultancy firm EPS Customer Solutions in February 2021.

EPS was a business consultancy firm serving the oil refinery, petrochemical, energy and steel industries.

It advised its clients on strategic studies, performance improvement and operational excellence, operational due diligence during M&A, technology assessment, licence to operate and training.

In January 2020, Becht acquired Texas Gulf Coast Engineers, a specialist in advanced dimensional control services.

MEED's April 2023 special report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> GIGAPROJECTS: Saudi Arabia under project pressure
> ECONOMY: Riyadh steps up the Vision 2030 tempo
> CONSTRUCTION: Saudi construction project ramp-up accelerates
> UPSTREAM: Aramco slated to escalate upstream spending
> DOWNSTREAM: Petchems ambitions define Saudi downstream
> POWER: Saudi Arabia reinvigorates power sector
> WATER: Saudi water begins next growth phase
> BANKING: Saudi banks bid to keep ahead of the pack