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  Acwa Power, SEC and Kepco close $4bn Saudi IPP deals

  25 August 2025

  Acwa Power, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) have achieved financial close for the 3,600MW Rumah 1 and Nairyah 1 independent power producer (IPP) projects in Saudi Arabia. The two projects represent a total investment of about SR15bn ($4bn).

  Saudi Power Procurement Company is the principal buyer for the projects, responsible for tendering and power offtake. Ownership of the project companies, Remal Energy Company for Rumah 1 and Naseem Energy Company for Nairyah 1, is split between Acwa Power (35%), SEC (35%) and Kepco (30%).

  The projects form part of the Saudi Energy Ministry’s plan to maximise local power supply in line with Vision 2030.

  They also support the kingdom’s net-zero 2060 target and allow for future integration of carbon capture facilities.

  Financing was secured from a syndicate of local, regional and international lenders, including Export Import Bank of Korea, Saudi National Bank, Saudi Investment Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation.

  MEED reported in Novemeber that the Acwa, SEC and Kepco consortium had won the contracts to develop the two combined-cycle gas turbine IPPs. Tokyo-headquartered Mitsubishi Power was to supply the gas turbines to power the plants.

  The team offered a levelised electricity cost of 4.5859 $cents a kilowatt-hour ($c/kWh) for Rumah 1 and 4.6114 $c/kWh for Nairiyah 1.

  Rumah 1 involves the construction of a combined-cycle gas turbine plant with a capacity of 1,800MW in Riyadh Province. The project will be developed by Remal Energy Company with an investment of SR7.5bn ($2bn).

  Nairyah 1, also with a capacity of 1,800MW, will be built in the Eastern Province and developed by Naseem Energy Company. The investment value is about SR7.5bn ($2bn)

  

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  Mark Dowdall
• 
  Riyadh Metro Line 2 is a bellwether for Saudi construction

  25 August 2025

  Commentary
  Colin Foreman
  Editor

  Speaking to MEED at the end of the first quarter of this year, one of the region’s most active construction companies identified a bellwether project for 2025: the expansion of Riyadh Metro’s Line 2.

  At the time, much of the conversation in the market centred on the reprioritisation of projects in Saudi Arabia and expected budget cuts to some of the kingdom’s largest developments. The reasoning was that if the Line 2 project proceeded, it would signal that Riyadh remains committed to delivering key infrastructure.

  On 18 July, the Royal Commission for Riyadh City awarded the Arriyadh New Mobility Consortium the estimated $800m-$900m contract. A few weeks later, Riyadh Metro Transit Consultants, a joint venture of US-based Parsons and French engineering firms Egis and Systra, was confirmed as the project management and construction supervision consultant. 

  The 8.4-kilometre (km) extension, comprising 1.3km of elevated track and 7.1km underground, includes two elevated stations and three underground stations.

  It will run from King Saud University (KSU) to new stations at KSU Medical City, KSU West, Diriyah East and Diriyah Central – where it will interchange with the planned Line 7 – and finally to Diriyah South.

  The alignment is important as it provides a vital transport link for the $63bn Diriyah project and builds on the popularity of the existing metro network, which opened at the end of 2024.

  It also shows contractors that while there is talk of a reprioritisation, opportunities for work on major projects remain.

  

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• 
  Emaar appoints contractor for Dubai Creek Harbour tower

  22 August 2025

  

   

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  UAE firm Engineering Contracting Company has won a contract to build the Palace Residences Creek Blue residential development at Dubai Creek Harbour.

  The 50-storey tower is located in the second phase of the development's Bridge District and covers an area of over 98,000 square metres.

  The contract was awarded by Dubai-based real estate developer Emaar Properties.

  Dubai-headquartered Mirage is the project consultant.

  Construction work has started, with local firm Dutch Foundation carrying out the enabling works.

  The project is scheduled for completion by 2028.

  In March, MEED reported that Emaar Properties was set to relaunch its efforts to build Dubai Creek Tower – which was once touted to become the world’s tallest tower – along with a mall in Dubai’s Creek Harbour area.

  According to local media reports, the firm has earmarked a budget of about AED14bn ($3.81bn) to develop both projects.

  The developments are fundamental to Emaar’s plans to spend about AED65bn ($18bn) over the next five years.

  Dubai’s heightened real estate activity has led to record-breaking announcements from several UAE-based real estate firms. 

  In February, Emaar reported a total revenue of AED19.1bn ($5.2bn) in 2024, a 61% increase from 2023. It said it recorded a net profit before tax of about AED10.2bn ($2.8bn), a 20% rise compared to 2023.

  According to a report published by Emirates News Agency (Wam) earlier this year, the total value of real estate transactions reached AED893bn, with over 331,300 transactions recorded in the UAE last year.

  UK analytics firm GlobalData forecasts that the UAE construction industry will register an annual growth of 3.9% in 2025-27, supported by investments in infrastructure, renewable energy, oil and gas, housing, industrial and tourism projects.

  

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Kuwait to meet with UN for oil project approvals

  22 August 2025

  

   

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  State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has scheduled a meeting with the UN in the second week of September as it seeks approvals to extend two oil remediation projects.

  The contractors involved will be given an additional volume of polluted soil to clean and an extra 18 months in which to complete processing, according to industry sources.

  The two Kuwait-based contractors that have been provisionally awarded contract extensions are Khalid Ali Al-Kharafi & Brothers Company and Heisco.

  The contract extensions are each worth about $30m and have already been approved by KOC.

  They also need approval from the UN as the project is being funded through money that was awarded to Kuwait by the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) to allow Kuwait to address ecological damage resulting from the 1990-91 Gulf War.

  The contract extensions are for contracts that were awarded though the Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme (Kerp) in 2021.

  Kerp is the world’s biggest project to clean up oil pollution.

  More than 30 years after the UNCC was created to ensure restitution for Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion of 1990, the reparations body announced in February 2022 that it had processed its final claim, amounting to $52.4bn in total.

  Kerp itself is understood to be deploying about $3.5bn of the reparation funds, cleaning up the damage caused by oil spills related to the war.

  The project to clean up all of the crude that was spilled as a result of the war stalled for decades due to the unique challenges that the clean-up project poses, but in recent years there has been a surge in activity, with major tenders and contract awards.

  The project has been divided into three main project areas, which are known as North Kuwait Excavation Transportation Remediation (NKETR), South Kuwait Excavation Transportation Remediation (SKETR) and South Kuwait Excavation Transportation Remediation 2 (SKETR-2).

  The original contracts that were awarded to Khalid Ali Al-Kharafi & Brothers Company and Heisco were:

  • NKETR A – Sabria: Kharafi (Kuwait)/Lamor (Finland) – $194m
  • SKETR A – Greater Burgan: Kharafi/Lamor – $197m
  • SKETR B – Greater Burgan: Heisco (Kuwait) / Zaopin Hangzhou (China) – $185m

  The extensions are being added to existing contracts after additional volumes of polluted soil were discovered by Kuwait last year.

  In October 2024, MEED revealed that KOC had discovered an extra 5 million tons of contaminated soil.

  

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  Frontrunner emerges for Dorra gas project offshore package

  21 August 2025

  

   

  Based on an initial evaluation of bids by Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO), a frontrunner to win the main contract for an offshore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package of the Dorra gas field facilities project has emerged.

  KJO has divided the scope of work on the project into four EPC packages – three offshore and one onshore.

  The scope of work on offshore package one covers the EPC of seven offshore jackets and laying of intra-field lines.

  Contractors submitted bids for the first offshore package by a deadline of 2 June, it was previously reported.

  Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (L&TEH) has pulled ahead in the race to win the contract for package one of the Dorra project, according to sources.

  L&TEH has emerged as the favourite based on “early bid evaluation”, and the situation could change “in the coming days” as KJO engages in further discussions and negotiations with the bidders, one source said.

  KJO is expected to select a contractor for the package by the end of August, another source said.

  The following contractors are understood to be among those bidding for the three offshore packages of the Dorra gas field offshore and onshore facilities project:

  • Lamprell (Saudi Arabia/UAE)
  • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
  • McDermott (US)
  • NMDC Energy (UAE)
  • Saipem (Italy)

  MEED reported in March that KJO was pushing forward with a major project to produce gas from the Dorra offshore field, located in Gulf waters in the Neutral Zone shared by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

  Contractors are currently working towards a bid submission deadline of 15 September for the project's other three EPC packages, offshore packages 2A and 2B and onshore package three, according to sources.

  The previous bid submission deadlines for the three packages were 30 June, 31 July and 25 August.

  The EPC scope of work on the packages of the Dorra gas field offshore and onshore facilities project is as follows:

  Package 2A – Dorra gas field wellhead topsides, flowlines and umbilicals

  • Seven gas wellhead platforms or topsides, with production routed to the central gathering platform
  • Corrosion-resistant, alloy-lined intra-field flowlines and umbilicals connecting the gas wellhead platforms to the central gathering platform and the auxiliary platform

  Package 2B: Dorra central gathering platform complex, export pipelines and cables

  • Central gathering platform
  • Auxiliary platform
  • Dorra accommodation platform
  • Flare platform
  • Bridge platform
  • Pipelines for gas and condensate transmission to each shareholder
  • Produced water pipeline from the central gathering platform to Al-Khafji field and from the planned onshore processing facility next to the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait to Al-Khafji field
  • Recovered monoethylene glycol (MEG) pipeline from Al-Khafji field to the central gathering platform
  • Control and power system linking Al-Khafji onshore facilities to offshore units
  • Offshore central control room at Dorra accommodation platform

  Package 3: Onshore gas processing facilities

  • Buildings to be constructed as part of KJO’s Dorra project onshore package include:
    • Dorra control building
    • Operator building
    • Operations, maintenance and engineering building
    • Process interface building
    • Onshore 115/69kV substation
    • Two gas insulated substations
    • Warehouse
    • Maintenance building
    • Mosque
    • Telecommunications tower radio building
    • Beach valve substation at the planned onshore processing facility next to the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait
       
  • Processing facilities for KJO's onshore package:
    • Produced water receiving and treatment
    • Sour water stripping and treated water system
    • Rich MEG storage tank
    • MEG regeneration and reclamation
    • Recovered hydrocarbons system
    • Lean MEG storage and supply
    • Fresh MEG storage and supply
    • Beach valve stations at Al-Khafji and Al-Zour
       
  • Utilities:
    • Instrument and plant air system
    • Nitrogen generation system
    • Diesel storage and distribution system
    • Fuel gas system
    • Closed drain and slop tank system
    • Hazardous area open drains system
    • Industrial water system
    • Drinking water system
    • Flare gas recovery system and a low-pressure flare system
    • Fire water system
    • Emergency diesel generator
    • Sewage treatment

  The Dorra field is estimated to hold 20 trillion cubic metres of gas and 310 million barrels of oil.

  Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been working together to develop the offshore field since it was discovered in 1965. The two sides expect to produce about 1 billion cubic feet a day of gas from the asset and have agreed to split the gas output equally.

  A geopolitical tussle over ownership of the asset has hampered progress.

  Iran, which calls the field Arash, claims that it partially extends into its territory and that Tehran should be a stakeholder in any development project. 

  Kuwait and Saudi Arabia maintain that the Dorra field lies entirely in the waters of their shared territory, known as the Neutral Zone or Divided Zone, and that Iran has no legal basis for its claim. 

  In February 2024, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reiterated their claim to the Dorra field in a joint statement issued during an official meeting in Riyadh between Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

  KJO, which is jointly owned by Saudi Aramco subsidiary Aramco Gulf Operations Company and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), is understood to have issued the tenders for the project in August 2024.

  MEED reported in September 2023 that Aramco and KPC had selected France’s Technip Energies to carry out front-end engineering and design (feed) and pre-feed work on the Dorra offshore field development project.

  The original feed work for a project to develop the field was performed more than a decade ago. However, due to changes in technology, the engineering design needed to be updated before the project could reach a final investment decision.

  ALSO READ: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait announce Neutral Zone oil discovery

  

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  Indrajit Sen