Related Articles

• 
  Bidders get more time for Riyadh East sewage treatment plant

  16 March 2026

  

   

  State water offtaker Sharakat, formerly Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), has extended the bid submission deadline for the Riyadh East independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP).

  The new deadline is 30 June. The original deadline was 2 April.

  The project will be developed under a build‑own‑operate‑transfer (BOOT) model with a 25‑year concession term.

  The plant will have a treatment capacity of 200,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) in its first phase, expanding to 500,000 cm/d in the second phase.

  It includes the development of a treated sewage effluent transmission pipeline, forming part of the kingdom’s wider programme to expand wastewater treatment capacity through public-private partnerships.

  The request for proposals (RFP) was issued last October. 

  In 2024, Sharakat prequalified 53 companies that could bid for the Riyadh East ISTP, part of seven planned ISTP projects it said it would procure between 2024 and 2026

  WSP is the technical adviser and KPMG Middle East is the lead and financial adviser on the project.

  The targeted commercial operation date for the facility is 2029.

  ISTP plans

  Sharakat’s current ISTP portfolio includes 10 large plants that are operational, under construction or under tendering, with a combined initial treatment capacity of 1.79 million cm/d.

  These projects include North Taif, Jeddah Airport, West Dammam, Madinah 3, Buraydah 2, Tabuk 2, Al-Haer, Arana, Hadda and Riyadh East. 

  In December, two consortiums were selected for contracts to develop and operate the Hadda and Arana ISTP projects in Mecca province.

  That same month, Sharakat prequalified 63 developers for upcoming ISTP projects under a revised prequalification process.

  According to Sharakat’s newly released seven-year statement, it has identified six additional large ISTPs in the development pipeline.

  These include:

  • Kharj (75,000 cm/d)
  • Abu Arish (50,000)
  • Hafar Al-Batin (100,000)
  • Riyadh North (TBD)
  • Najran South (50,000)
  • Khamis Mushait (50,000)

  The company is also pursuing a nationwide small sewage treatment plant programme covering about 139 smaller ISTPs grouped into seven clusters.

  These are designed to add roughly 521,450 cm/d of additional treatment capacity across the kingdom.

  ---

  READ THE MARCH 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

  Riyadh urges private sector to take greater role; Chemical players look to spend rationally; Economic uptick lends confidence to Cairo’s reforms.

  Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the March 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

  > AGENDA: Saudi Arabia’s private sector picks up the baton > RAMADAN: Data disproves the Ramadan slowdown story > INDUSTRY REPORT: Chemicals producers look to cut spending > INDUSTRY REPORT: Global petrochemical project capex set to rise until 2030 > MARKET FOCUS: Egypt’s crisis mode gives way to cautious revival > LEADERSHIP: Delivering Saudi Arabia’s next phase of rail growth > POWER: Lessons learnt from a power plant decommissioning > INTERVIEW: Abu Dhabi’s Enersol charts acquisitions path > INTERVIEW: Lina Noureddin, CEO of Lamar Holding, on the evolving PPP landscape > INTERVIEW: Contract award marks Metito’s return to municipal projects

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

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15993509/main.jpg

  Mark Dowdall
• 
  Jordan begins prequalification for Amman water project

  16 March 2026

  Jordan’s Ministry of Investment has issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) for a non-revenue water (NRW) reduction project in the southern and southeastern areas of Amman.

  The project will be delivered under a public-private partnership (PPP) model using a design, build, finance, operate and maintain structure. It aims to reduce water losses and improve the efficiency of water distribution networks in the targeted areas.

  The initiative is being led by the Ministry of Investment through its PPP unit in collaboration with the Ministry of Water & Irrigation, the Water Authority of Jordan and Miyahuna.

  The procurement is expected to attract international water operators, engineering contractors and infrastructure investors with experience in NRW reduction programmes.

  The bid submission deadline is 23 April.

  Jordan has prioritised reducing NRW as part of efforts to improve the efficiency of its water sector. The country is among the most water-scarce in the world, and losses from distribution networks are estimated to account for about 45% of water supplied.

  NRW reduction programmes typically involve measures such as network rehabilitation, leak detection, pressure management and improved metering to reduce physical and commercial losses across water systems.

  Jordan is also advancing its $6bn Aqaba-Amman water desalination and conveyance project that aims to meet about 40% of Jordan’s municipal water demand by 2040.

  As MEED recently reported, the project is nearing financial close. Once complete, it will supply about 300 million cubic metres of potable water a year from the Red Sea to Amman and other regions.

  In February, the Water Authority of Jordan signed a four-year performance-based management contract with France’s Veolia to support water and wastewater services in the country’s northern governorates.

  Under the contract, Veolia will provide operations, maintenance and management services to Yarmouk Water Company, the public utility responsible for water supply and wastewater services in the region.

  ---

  READ THE MARCH 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

  Riyadh urges private sector to take greater role; Chemical players look to spend rationally; Economic uptick lends confidence to Cairo’s reforms.

  Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the March 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

  > AGENDA: Saudi Arabia’s private sector picks up the baton > RAMADAN: Data disproves the Ramadan slowdown story > INDUSTRY REPORT: Chemicals producers look to cut spending > INDUSTRY REPORT: Global petrochemical project capex set to rise until 2030 > MARKET FOCUS: Egypt’s crisis mode gives way to cautious revival > LEADERSHIP: Delivering Saudi Arabia’s next phase of rail growth > POWER: Lessons learnt from a power plant decommissioning > INTERVIEW: Abu Dhabi’s Enersol charts acquisitions path > INTERVIEW: Lina Noureddin, CEO of Lamar Holding, on the evolving PPP landscape > INTERVIEW: Contract award marks Metito’s return to municipal projects

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

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15993071/main.jpg

  Mark Dowdall
• 
  Saudi Arabia allows Hail airport bidders more time

  16 March 2026

  

   

  Saudi Arabia’s Cluster2 Company, which operates under the state-owned Matarat Holding, has extended the bid deadline to 29 March for a contract to expand Hail airport.

  The notice was issued in early January. The previous deadline was 1 March.

  The scope of work covers the upgrade and expansion of the terminal infrastructure, including departures and arrivals areas, enhanced baggage handling facilities and other associated works.

  The terminal expansion works include the south expansion, which encompasses the construction of a new building covering 5,600 square metres. This building will connect to the existing terminal from the southern side.

  The expansion will increase the airport’s capacity to about 1.7 million passengers a year by 2030.

  Cluster2 Company operates and manages 22 airports in Saudi Arabia, both domestic and international. It was established in 2022 as part of Matarat Holding to modernise and improve airport operations and the passenger experience.

  Cluster2 Company aims to improve service quality, safety and operational efficiency while supporting traffic growth and local economic development. Through standardised processes, technology adoption and infrastructure upgrades, the company contributes to Matarat’s broader goals of enhancing connectivity, enabling tourism and business travel, and aligning airport performance with Saudi Vision 2030.

  

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15993068/main.jpg

  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Iraq pushes to bring export pipeline back online

  16 March 2026

  Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

  Iraq is pushing to bring the country’s main northern export route from the north of the country back online, according to a statement from Amer Khalil Ahmed, the general manager of Iraq’s state-owned North Oil Company.

  He has released a video of himself inspecting a pumping station that is part of the larger oil export system to take crude to the Port of Ceyhan via the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline (ITP).

  The video was released with a statement saying that North Oil Company was “accelerating” the process to restart crude exports via the pipeline.

  The ITP, which reopened on 27 September last year, was closed again during the days that followed the attack by the US and Israel on Iran on 28 February.

  Exports via the pipeline fell to zero after production from the region dropped dramatically due to multiple oil fields that feed the pipeline closing amid safety concerns.

  It is not known whether there are other technical reasons why the pipeline is not operational.

  On 15 March, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) rejected accusations by Federal Iraq’s Ministry of Oil that the northern region was obstructing the resumption of oil exports through the ITP.

  The MNR said oil and gas fields, refineries and energy infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region had been repeatedly targeted by “outlaw factions”, forcing a complete halt in production and leaving no crude available for export.

  The ministry also accused Baghdad of failing to deter the attacks and claimed that some of the groups responsible receive funding and weapons from Iraq’s federal authorities.

  Iraq’s oil and gas sector has been hit hard by the ongoing conflict that started on 28 February.

  Iraqi oil production has collapsed, and the refining sector has also been severely impacted.

  On 14 March, a drone strike triggered a fire at the Lanaz refinery in the city of Erbil in northern Iraq, forcing authorities to suspend operations at the facility.

  Videos circulating online showed a large fire and thick black smoke rising from the site.

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15992257/main.jpg

  Wil Crisp
• 
  Qatar’s new $8bn investment spices up global LNG race

  13 March 2026

  

   

  In the midst of the conflict between Iran and the US and Israel, which has spilled over into the GCC region, QatarEnergy has temporarily halted production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the country and declared force majeure on LNG shipments after its energy assets came under attack.

  When the fog of war clears, however, and the Strait of Hormuz reopens to oil and gas flows, the global economy will look to QatarEnergy to swiftly restore regular LNG cargoes in order to bring gas prices down from record highs.

  Beyond that short-term role, the recent $8bn investment the Qatari giant has committed to building two new LNG processing trains will also cement its position as a reliable long-term supplier, while further intensifying the race among global LNG producers to carve out larger market shares in an increasingly gas-hungry world.

  North Field West – a game changer

  The state-owned company has progressed from the front-end engineering and design (feed) phase to the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) stage of its North Field West LNG project at pace.

  It awarded the main EPC contract for the scheme – covering two LNG processing trains with a total capacity of 16 million tonnes a year (t/y) – to a joint venture comprising France’s Technip Energies, Greece/Lebanon-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) and Gulf Asia Contracting on 25 February.

  The contract, estimated to be worth $8bn, was awarded just a month after Japan-based Chiyoda Corporation won the project’s feed contract.

  Such a short interval between the feed and EPC phases for a project as large as North Field West LNG would typically be considered improbable. Industry sources suggest QatarEnergy may have been in discussions with Chiyoda and the Technip Energies-CCC consortium for at least a year regarding the feed and EPC contracts, respectively – particularly given the two-year gap between the project’s announcement in February 2024 and the start of the EPC phase.

  Chiyoda, Technip Energies and CCC are also involved in the first two phases of QatarEnergy’s $40bn North Field LNG expansion project. A consortium of Chiyoda and Technip Energies is executing EPC works on the North Field East project, which involves the construction of four LNG trains with a combined capacity of 32 million t/y, following the award of a $13bn contract in February 2021. Meanwhile, a Technip Energies-CCC consortium is carrying out EPC works on two 7.8 million t/y LNG trains as part of the North Field South project, having secured a $10bn contract in May 2023.

  More significant, however, is the speed with which QatarEnergy is advancing its strategic objective of reaching a total LNG production capacity of 142 million t/y by the end of the decade, from 77.5 million t/y at present.

  With all three phases of the North Field LNG expansion programme now under EPC execution – and North Field East scheduled for commissioning later this year – QatarEnergy appears firmly on track to become one of the world’s largest LNG suppliers over the long term, reinforcing Qatar’s economic future in the process.

  US domination

  While QatarEnergy is on course to increase its LNG production capacity by 83% by 2030 through the overall North Field LNG expansion programme, it is still some way behind the US, which is set to account for over half of the total global LNG liquefaction projects by 2030.

  There are 40 new-build and expansion LNG liquefaction projects planned or under way in the US, according to UK analytics firm GlobalData. Among these, two projects stand out.

  The first is the Rio Grande LNG production project, being developed by NextDecade in Texas, on the US Gulf of Mexico coast. Up to 10 processing trains are planned for the complex, the first three of which are in the EPC phase.

  NextDecade achieved the final investment decision on the fourth and fifth trains at the facility, estimated to cost $6.7bn each, in September and October last year. The company has awarded EPC contracts to build all five trains at the Rio Grande facility to US-based Bechtel.

  On the investments front, the overseas-focused energy investment vehicle of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), XRG, acquired an indirect 11.7% stake in the first phase of the project from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), part of US asset manager BlackRock, in September last year. In February 2026, XRG entered into another transaction with GIP to raise its overall participation in the Rio Grande LNG project by acquiring additional 7.6% equity interests in trains four and five of the scheme.

  Additionally, as part of that transaction, another Adnoc Group subsidiary, Adnoc Trading, entered into a 20-year offtake agreement with NextDecade last year to purchase 1.9 million t/y of LNG from Rio Grande train four, on a free-on-board basis at a Henry Hub-indexed price. France’s TotalEnergies and Saudi Aramco are the other LNG offtakers for train four.

  Separately, the Commonwealth LNG facility in the US state of Louisiana has also received backing from Abu Dhabi. Expected to start operations in 2030, the facility is designed to produce up to 9.5 million metric t/y of LNG.

  Commonwealth LNG is a project of US-based alternative asset manager Kimmeridge Energy Management Company and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company through their joint venture Caturus.

  Caturus was formed in August 2025 when Kimmeridge announced a rebranding that saw Commonwealth LNG and Kimmeridge’s upstream operations combined under a new integrated platform. At the same time, Mubadala acquired a 24.1% equity stake in Caturus, providing financial backing for the new entity to proceed with the Commonwealth LNG project.

  Also in August, Caturus awarded Technip Energies the contract for EPC works on the Commonwealth LNG project. The French contractor had previously performed the project’s feed work.

  Moreover, Aramco subsidiary Aramco Trading signed a 20-year agreement to buy 1 million metric t/y of LNG from the Commonwealth LNG facility in February, increasing offtake deals secured by Caturus to cover 8 million metric t/y of the project’s total planned output capacity.

  Positive outlook

  The growth in LNG production capacity in the US, as well as in wider North America, is driven by several factors, including abundant natural gas reserves, the shale gas revolution and advancements in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

  While it might be a challenge for QatarEnergy to compete with US players in combined liquefaction capacity, its strength and success will lie in clinching long-term offtake deals with customers in Asia, where the bulk of global LNG demand growth is expected.

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15954252/main3511.jpg

  Indrajit Sen