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Gas processing takes centre stage in Mena region

1 September 2026

 

National oil companies (NOCs) in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are accelerating investment in gas processing and associated downstream infrastructure as demand rises and governments prioritise lower-carbon energy growth.

Rising regional gas consumption is being driven by rapid population growth, greater household electrification, expanding industrial bases and demand from gas-intensive downstream segments such as petrochemicals, fertilisers and metals. 

Power generation and water desalination are also key sources of demand, while new industrial zones are adding further baseload requirements.

The push is not only about producing more gas, but also about treating it. As fields mature, a larger share of supply is sour, tight or associated gas that requires more complex processing, sulphur recovery and liquids handling.

At the same time, NOCs are targeting higher-value outputs such as ethane, liquefied petroleum gas and condensates, to feed chemicals and export markets. 

This makes fractionation and the recovery of natural gas liquids (NGL) central to project economics. Emissions constraints further elevate the importance of efficient plants, flare reduction schemes and integrated gas-gathering networks.

Investment accelerates

The multibillion-dollar projects planned and under way in the region illustrate the scale of investment flowing into gas processing infrastructure. 

Saudi Aramco is advancing gas and liquids infrastructure linked to its $100bn Jafurah unconventional gas development, in addition to expansions to strengthen the kingdom’s Master Gas System transmission network.

In the UAE, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) continues to expand sour gas processing and downstream-
linked gas treatment capacity to support domestic power needs and industrial growth. Meanwhile, debottlenecking and compression and pipeline projects improve system resilience. 

QatarEnergy, already a global leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG), is expanding upstream gas handling, condensate and NGL infrastructure as part of its North Field expansion programme. The programme will also increase feedstock supplies for local industry. 

In Oman, majority state-owned Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and its partners are similarly focused on gas processing, compression and network upgrades to sustain supplies to power generation, industrial users and LNG.


Saudi Aramco is expanding gas-processing and NGL infrastructure as domestic demand grows

Leading spender

The Mena region has seen significant spending on gas processing projects so far in 2026, with year-to-date capital expenditure (capex) exceeding levels recorded in any year since at least 2015.

Adnoc Gas, the natural gas processing business of Adnoc Group, has been the biggest spender this year, following final investment decisions (FIDs) on the second and third phases of its Rich Gas Development (RGD) programme, worth a total of $8.2bn. The FIDs are part of the company’s previously committed $28bn capex budget for 2026-30.

The second phase of the RGD programme relates to the construction of a new gas processing train at the Habshan gas processing complex, while the third phase covers an NGL fractionation train at the Ruwais gas processing facility.

In its Q2 2026 financial results, Adnoc Gas said China-based Wison Engineering had secured the $3.9bn EPC contract for phase two of the RGD, while Italian contractor Tecnimont was selected for the $4.3bn phase three contract.

Wison Engineering said the EPC contract for RGD phase two is the largest in its history. The Hong Kong-listed company said the $3.9bn EPC contract, together with an associated 220kV switch station, brings the total contract value to approximately $4.04bn. The scope includes gas pipelines, separation and condensate stabilisation units, acid gas removal units and core deep NGL recovery units, as well as the switch station.

Tecnimont’s parent company, Maire, said its scope of work on the RGD phase three project includes EPC activities for the fifth NGL fractionation unit, which will separate the various hydrocarbon components, in addition to treatment and sweetening systems to remove impurities and ensure product quality.

The contract scope also includes a regeneration gas treatment unit, a propane refrigeration system, ancillary systems and storage facilities. Once completed in 2030, the plant will have an output capacity of 23,000 tonnes a day, or about
8 million tonnes a year, Milan-headquartered Maire said.

Adnoc Gas also reiterated its $5bn capex for the first phase of the RGD scheme, which is under construction. The company awarded $5bn in engineering, procurement and construction management contracts in three tranches for phase one of the RGD in June 2025, marking its largest-ever capital investment in a single project.

Across all three phases, Adnoc Gas has made a total investment of $13.2bn in the RGD programme.

Capacity expansion

Saudi Aramco spent $7.7bn on EPC contract awards on the Fadhili gas processing plant expansion in 2024. The project is set to increase the Fadhili gas plant’s processing capacity from 2.5 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) to up to 4 billion cf/d through the addition of three processing trains, each with a capacity of 500 million cf/d.

Following its significant capex on the Fadhili expansion, the Saudi energy giant is moving ahead with contract awards this year for various EPC packages under a wider project to boost gas compression capacity at the Shedgum and Uthmaniyah processing plants in the Eastern Province.

The two plants currently receive about 870 million cf/d and 1.2 billion cf/d of Khuff raw gas, respectively. Through the multibillion-dollar project, Aramco aims to increase their compression and processing capacity and build new pipelines to improve gas transportation.

Aramco has divided the scope of work on the Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas compression project into nine EPC packages. It awarded the Uthmaniyah gas compression plant package to locally based Saipem Nasser Saeed Al-Hajri Contracting Company (SNSH), a joint venture of Italian contractor Saipem and local contractor Nasser Saeed Al-Hajri & Partners Company for Contracting.

The SNSH contract is estimated at $1.24bn, with EPC works on the package scheduled to start in August. Separately, Milan-headquartered Saipem said its share of the contract is worth €900m ($1.04bn), with the EPC works scheduled to run for 42 months.

Earlier this year, Aramco also awarded the package related to early works and site preparation to local firm Al-Shalawi International Company Trading & Contracting.

The Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas compression project will support Aramco’s target of increasing gas production and processing capacity by 80% by 2030, from a 2021 baseline.

In Oman, PDO also moved ahead this year with a project to expand the Birba gas station in Dhofar Governorate. Known as the Budour-Northeast Birba integrated project, it will add units to enable the station to process additional volumes of sour gas.

PDO awarded the EPC works on the project to Egypt’s Engineering for the Petroleum & Process Industries (Enppi), with the contract valued at $355m.

Future pipeline

Looking ahead, the Mena region has a gas processing pipeline worth at least $10.5bn, with planned projects in Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Libya and Algeria at various stages of development.

Aramco is expected to award the EPC contract for the other main component of the Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas compression project, the Shedgum gas compression package, later this year, after several weeks of discussions with bidders.

The project operator is also in advanced negotiations with frontrunners for the project’s two main pipeline packages and is expected to issue the EPC contracts in the third quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, state energy conglomerate OQ Group is planning to build an NGL facility at Saih Nihayda in central Oman that will extract condensates and transport them to Duqm on the sultanate’s Arabian Sea coast for fractionation and export.

OQ plans to deliver the project using a front-end engineering and design-to-EPC model and is in the process of evaluating the proposals it has received from shortlisted contractors. A main contract award is expected by the end of this year.

Adnoc Gas is expected to re-emerge as a top spender on gas processing when it takes a FID on its estimated $8bn Bab gas cap development project.

The project aims to build a gas processing plant and associated pipeline networks and ancillary units in the Bab area, about 170 kilometres from the city of Abu Dhabi. The planned facility will process up to 1.85 billion cf/d of additional raw gas once Adnoc Gas’ parent company, Adnoc Group, starts production from the onshore Bab gas cap reservoirs.

Adnoc Gas has divided the EPC scope on the Bab gas cap development project into four main packages, which are in different stages of tendering.

Regional gas processing capex is likely to remain robust through the remainder of the decade as NOCs seek to meet growing domestic demand, support industrial development and improve the efficiency of their gas networks.

Further awards are expected for gas treatment trains, sulphur units, NGL recovery, gas compression and pipeline infrastructure, particularly where projects support petrochemical integration, reduce flaring and increase domestic gas supplies.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19230897/main.gif
Indrajit Sen

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