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• 
  Emaar announces $55bn Dubai project

  12 June 2026

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  Mohammed Alabbar, the founder of Emaar Properties, has released a statement saying that the Dubai-based real estate developer is about to announce a $55bn project in Dubai.

  On his social media channels including Instagram and X, he said: “Emaar is preparing to unveil its most ambitious project yet: a development worth AED200bn (around $55bn), commanding an extraordinary vista that brings together, in a single frame, three of the city’s timeless icons – Burj Khalifa, Burj Al-Arab and Palm Jumeirah – complete with the finest essentials of modern living, in the city of Dubai.”

  Emaar has delivered some of the world’s most ambitious real estate projects, including the world’s tallest tower, the 828-metre-tall Burj Khalifa, and the surrounding Downtown Dubai development.

  Commenting on the new project, Alabbar added: “This is no ordinary new development. It is a landmark that takes its place in the legacy of the United Arab Emirates, writing a new chapter in the story of a nation that knows no limits to its ambition.”

  In a statement on the Dubai Financial Market on 11 June, Emaar Properties said it “stands on the threshold of a historic announcement” and revealed more details about the project. It said it will have a total development value of AED200bn, with a gross floor area exceeding 4.5 million square metres.

  It added that it will include a mix of landmark residential towers, signature villas and mansions, Grade-A commercial offices, world-class retail destinations, luxury hospitality, and civic and cultural amenities. Altogether, the development will accommodate a projected population of nearly 150,000 residents. The statement also said the development will be connected to proposed metro lines.

  The exact location of the development was not revealed. Emaar has announced major projects in the past without giving precise locations. In June 2023, it announced the $20bn Oasis project. At the time, the details on the site’s location indicated it was situated in a prime location in Dubai, surrounded by high-end developments and within proximity to four international golf courses. It was later confirmed that the site sits between Damac Properties’ Lagoons development and Dubai Investment Park.   

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  Colin Foreman
• 
  Aramco awards contract for Uthmaniyah gas compression project

  12 June 2026

  

   

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  Saudi Aramco has awarded a key contract as part of its larger project to boost gas compression capacity at the Shedgum and Uthmaniya processing plants in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

  The Shedgum and Uthmaniya plants currently receive approximately 870 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) and 1.2 billion cf/d of Khuff raw gas, respectively. Through this multibillion-dollar project, Aramco aims to increase the compression and processing capacity of the two plants, as well as construct new pipelines to enhance gas transport.

  Saudi Arabia-based Saipem Nasser Saeed Al‑Hajri Contracting Company (SNSH), a joint venture of Italian contractor Saipem and local contractor Nasser Saeed Al‑Hajri and Partners Company for Contracting, has won the contract for EPC works on the Uthmaniyah gas compression plant package.

  The value of the contract won by SNSH is estimated to be $1.24bn, sources told MEED. Milan-headquartered Saipem declared the share of its contract value to be €900m ($1.04bn), adding that the duration of EPC works is 42 months.

  The scope of work on the package involves the EPC of a new compression plant serving the non‑associated gas field of Uthmaniyah, Saipem said in its statement, adding that “the new compression plant will extend the production life of the field, helping to support the growing energy demand of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.

  The contract for the Uthmaniyah gas compression plant package is the first EPC project awarded under Aramco’s National EPC Champion programme, Euronext Milan-listed Saipem said.

  Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas compression project

  The contract awarded by Aramco for the Uthmaniyah gas compression plant is one of nine EPC packages comprising the overall Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas compression project. The list of packages is as follows:

  1. Shedgum gas compression facility and SGP in-plant works
  2. Uthmaniyah gas compression facility and UGP in-plant works
  3. Shedgum gas compression pipelines package
  4. Uthmaniyah gas compression pipelines package
  5. Shedgum and Uthmaniyah central temporary construction facilities
  6. Shedgum and Uthmaniyah early works site preparation
  7. Operation and maintenance of Saudi Aramco Project Management Team temporary construction facilities and accommodation
  8. Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas compression plant PIA
  9. Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas compression plant PSA.

  Aramco has awarded the contract for the Shedgum and Uthmaniyah early works site preparation (package 6) to local firm Al-Shalawi International Company Trading and Contracting, sources told MEED.

  Additionally, Aramco is understood to be in discussions with Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (L&T), among other bidders, for the Shedgum gas compression facility and SGP in-plant works package (package 1), as per sources.

  Separately, the Saudi energy giant was said to be in negotiations with a consortium of China’s Sinopec and Dammam-based Al-Qahtani Pipe Coating Industries for the pipeline package related to the Uthmaniyah gas compression plant (package 4), the sources further said.

  However, Sinopec and Al-Qahtani fell short of providing bond guarantees and failed to meet other requirements set by Aramco, resulting in a split of their consortium, sources told MEED, adding Aramco could now start discussions with other bidders for the package.

  Meanwhile, Khobar-based Arkad Engineering & Construction has emerged as the lowest bidder for the Shedgum gas compression pipelines package, with Aramco expected to award the contract within June, according to sources.

  Contractors submitted bids for packages of the Shedgum and Uthmaniya gas compression capacity expansion project in January, MEED previously reported.

  The Saudi energy giant is understood to have started the solicitation of interest process for the main EPC contract tendering exercise in the fourth quarter of 2024.

  Aramco subsequently issued the tenders for the EPC packages of the scheme during the second quarter of last year and set an initial bid submission deadline of 17 August.

  Aramco then extended the bid submission deadline to 17 November, 7 December, and then to January, according to sources.

  In line with its aim of increasing gas production and processing capacity by 80% by 2030, with 2021 as its baseline, Aramco is investing significant capital in gas projects in the kingdom.

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Contractor begins work on Jafurah fourth expansion phase

  11 June 2026

  

   

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  Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (L&TEH) has started engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the fourth expansion phase of the Jafurah unconventional gas development in Saudi Arabia, after being selected by Saudi Aramco as the main contractor.

  The main scope of work on the Jafurah fourth expansion phase project involves the EPC of two gas compression trains at the giant gas basin in the kingdom’s Eastern Province. Each plant will be able to process up to 200 million cubic feet a day (cf/d).

  MEED reported in April that Aramco had selected L&TEH as the main contractor for the Jafurah fourth expansion phase, which sources estimate could be valued at around $1.5bn.

  Aramco has, however, only issued a draft letter of award for the project to L&TEH, based on which the contractor has started EPC works. The official contract award and final investment decision (FID) are pending, according to sources.

  The detailed scope of work on the Jafurah fourth expansion phase involves the EPC of the following process and utilities units at the south field of the Jafurah reserve:

  • Two gas compression trains of 200 million cf/d capacity each, measuring 400 by 400 metres
  • Gas compression plant inlet area
  • Gas compression plant condensate and produced-water handling
  • Instrumentation and plant air unit
  • Nitrogen generation unit
  • Raw/potable/water utilities
  • Chemical injection systems
  • Diesel systems
  • Flare and flare gas recovery systems
  • Gas compression plant burn pit
  • Closed drain system
  • Oily water system
  • Sanitary water system
  • Stormwater system
  • Firewater system
  • Fire and gas protection system
  • All buildings located within the gas compression plant, excluding security buildings
  • Outside battery limit buildings

  Contractors submitted proposals for the Jafurah fourth expansion phase project by the deadline of 15 January 2025, MEED previously reported. Following the submission of bids, Aramco initially requested that contractors extend the validity of their bids until the end of September, as it needed more time to evaluate the proposals.

  The Saudi energy giant then asked contractors to extend the validity of their base proposals until February this year, and the bidders complied, MEED earlier reported.

  Along with requesting bidders for a second bid validity extension, Aramco also sought an alternative set of commercial proposals from contractors, as per sources. Bidders submitted the second price option to the client in December, they added.

  The following contractors are among those that are understood to have submitted bids for the Jafurah fourth expansion phase project:

  • China Petroleum Engineering and Construction
  • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
  • Samsung E&A (South Korea)
  • Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain) / Sinopec Group (China)

  Aramco issued the main tender for the project in July 2024. Contractors invited to bid were initially set a deadline of 15 October that year to submit technical bids and their In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) credentials. Commercial bids were due to be submitted by 31 October, with the deadline extended to 31 December, then to 15 January, 2025.

  Along with overseeing the start of EPC works on the Jafurah fourth expansion phase project, Aramco is also advancing with the main EPC tendering exercise for the fifth expansion phase of the mammoth Jafurah unconventional gas development programme.

  Aramco completed the solicitation of interest process with contractors for the main EPC tendering round for the Jafurah fifth expansion phase project in November, MEED previously reported.

  Dubai-headquartered Wood Group has carried out the front-end engineering and design (feed) on the fifth expansion phase.

  Jafurah gas development phases

  The Jafurah basin is the largest liquid-rich shale gas play in the Middle East, spanning around 17,000 square kilometres. The reserve is estimated to contain 229 trillion cubic feet of gas and 75 billion stock-tank barrels of condensate.

  Aramco, in early December, brought the greenfield Jafurah gas processing plant online, with a production capacity of 450 million cf/d, marking the commissioning of the first phase of its $100bn capital expenditure programme to produce gas from the unconventional resource base.

  The Saudi oil behemoth had earlier stated it expected to start gas production at Jafurah in 2025, with the intention of progressively ramping up to 2 billion cf/d of sales gas, 420 million cf/d of ethane and 630,000 barrels a day (b/d) of high-value liquids by 2030.

  Aramco has said that, at peak production, its unconventional gas programme is expected to generate electricity equivalent to displacing 500,000 b/d of oil.

  Progress on the fourth and fifth expansion phases of the Jafurah unconventional gas development programme continues, as EPC work on the third phase advances.

  In July 2024, Aramco issued a non-binding letter of intent to a consortium of Tecnicas Reunidas and Sinopec Group for the EPC contract for the Jafurah third expansion phase. The value of the contract is estimated to be $2.24bn.

  The objective of the third expansion phase of Jafurah is similar to that of the fourth phase of development. The main scope of work involves the EPC of three gas compression plants, each with a capacity of 200 million cf/d.

  The third phase’s scope of work also includes building a 230kV substation to power the new gas compression plants and installing other utilities units, piping systems and safety equipment.

  The selection of contractors for the third expansion phase of the Jafurah development came within weeks of Aramco officially awarding EPC contracts for the second expansion phase, which aims to raise its processing potential to up to 2 billion cf/d of raw gas produced from the Jafurah field.

  Aramco awarded 16 contracts, worth a combined total of about $12.4bn, for the second expansion phase on 30 June 2024.

  The EPC scope of work on the project involves the construction of gas compression facilities and associated pipelines and the expansion of the Jafurah gas plant, including the construction of gas processing trains, utilities, sulphur and export facilities, Aramco said in a statement.

  The main EPC packages of the Jafurah second expansion phase project, their estimated values and the selected contractors are:

  • Package 1 – gas processing plant and main process units – $2.9bn: Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
  • Package 2 – utilities and offsites – $2.4bn: Hyundai Engineering (South Korea)
  • Package 3 – gas compression units – $1bn: Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon
  • Riyas natural gas liquids (NGL) package 1 – NGL fractionation trains – $1bn: Tecnicas Reunidas / Refining & Chemical Engineering Group (part of China’s Sinopec Group)
  • Riyas NGL package 2 – utilities, storage and export facilities – $2.2bn: Tecnicas Reunidas/Refining & Chemical Engineering Group
  • Riyas NGL package 6 – site preparation works – $107m: Mofarreh Alharbi & Partners (Saudi Arabia)
  • Riyas NGL package 9 – temporary construction facilities – $80m: Mofarreh Alharbi & Partners

  Aramco kickstarted EPC works on the first phase of the programme in November 2021 by awarding $10bn-worth of subsurface and EPC contracts.

  In February 2020, Aramco received a capital expenditure grant of $110bn from the Saudi government for the long-term phased development of the Jafurah unconventional gas resource base.

  The Jafurah unconventional gas development programme is central to Aramco’s goal of increasing gas production capacity. The target has recently been raised to 80%, with 2021 as the baseline, up from 60%, to meet rising domestic and global demand. The company expects life-cycle investment in Jafurah to exceed $100bn.

  Prior to the commissioning of the Jafurah gas plant in the last quarter of this year, Aramco completed an $11bn lease-and-leaseback deal in late October for gas processing facilities at the Jafurah unconventional gas reserve with a consortium led by funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), part of US asset manager BlackRock.

  Under the transaction, which Aramco started in August, a newly formed subsidiary – Jafurah Midstream Gas Company (JMGC) – will lease development and usage rights to the Jafurah field gas processing plant and the Riyas natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation facility.

  After 20 years, JMGC will lease the assets back to Aramco. JMGC will collect a tariff payable by Aramco in exchange for granting Aramco the exclusive right to receive, process and treat raw gas from the Jafurah resource base.

  Aramco will hold a 51% majority stake in JMGC, while the GIP-led consortium will hold the remaining 49%. Investors participating in the GIP-led consortium include Hassana Investment Company, The Arab Energy Fund (TAEF) and Aberdeen Investcorp Infrastructure Partners, as well as other institutional investors from North and Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Uncertainty increases for Shell’s $3.9bn gas project in Iraq

  11 June 2026

  

   

  Uncertainty is increasing for phase two of the Basra Gas Company (BGC) expansion project in Iraq amid fallout from the ongoing regional conflict that started when the US and Israel bombed Iran on 28 February.

  BGC is a joint venture of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil through its subsidiary South Gas Company (51%), London-headquartered Shell (44%) and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation (5%).

  In September last year, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed a $500m investment deal with BGC for the phase two project.

  The entire phase two project is estimated to be worth $3.9bn, according to the IFC, which says the money will be spent between 2025 and 2030.

  Of the $500m deal that was signed in September, $300m will be provided directly by the IFC, and this was approved by the IFC’s board on 14 January this year, less than two months before the US and Israel attacked Iran.

  The subsequent conflict and the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have created major obstacles for the project, according to industry sources.

  One source said: “Many Western workers that were specialists in the oil and gas sector have now left the country due to security concerns.

  “On top of this, it was originally assumed that required equipment for the project could be brought in through the Strait of Hormuz and that operational cash flows could be relied upon to help fund the project.”

  Due to the major disruption to shipping crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq has had to dramatically reduce oil production in the Basra region, and, as a result, associated gas production has declined as well.

  One source said: “Right now, the state-owned oil companies in Iraq are in the midst of a financial crisis and it is unlikely that they will be able to contribute to this project in the way that was originally envisioned.”

  The main focus of the BGC phase two expansion project is a new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refrigeration train to increase the overall capacity of the upstream facility, where LPG and condensate are obtained through processing of the associated natural gas.

  The scope of the project also includes the construction of a new 22-kilometre-long, 132kV overhead transmission line, which will help to meet the energy demand associated with the project.

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

  GCC looks beyond the Strait; Iraq’s reform window narrows as fiscal assumptions shatter; MEED Top 100 companies.

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

  > AGENDA: Gulf races to reroute trade > EXPORT ROUTES: Regional war boosts oil and gas pipeline project activity > CURRENT AFFAIRS: UAE’s Opec departure fulfils multiple ends > MARKET FOCUS: Iraq’s reform window narrows  > MEED TOP 100: Middle East stocks recover unevenly > OIL & GAS: Insurers will only cover a fraction of war damage to oil and gas facilities > LEADERSHIP: Building the infrastructure that makes net zero possible > LEGAL:  Saudi Arabia’s foreign property ownership milestone > TRADE DEAL: UK-GCC trade deal talks conclude

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

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  PIF to work with Egypt’s TMG on Saudi real estate schemes

  11 June 2026

  Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Egyptian real estate conglomerate Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore collaboration on mixed-use real estate projects across PIF-owned developments in Saudi Arabia.

  The non-binding agreement covers potential cooperation across the residential, commercial, hospitality and retail sectors, as well as integrated urban environments. PIF said the partnership would accelerate project delivery and value creation across its portfolio.

  TMG, which has nearly 55 years of experience developing large-scale integrated cities, communities and hospitality projects across Egypt, brings technical and managerial capacity to the collaboration. The company previously signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s National Housing Company (NHC) in early 2024 to develop more than 27,000 residential units at the Banan City project in Riyadh’s Al-Fursan suburb.

  The MoU also establishes a framework to attract additional investors to future project phases and is intended to expand private sector participation as investors, partners and suppliers.

  PIF said the agreement forms part of its broader strategy to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and develop its urban development and livability ecosystem – one of six strategic ecosystems under its 2026-30 strategy. That ecosystem spans housing, retail, office and community spaces and essential services.

  The MoU is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions precedent and receipt of all necessary regulatory and internal approvals.

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  Colin Foreman