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  Firms prepare bids for Oman LNG’s fourth liquefaction train

  29 September 2025

  

  Oman LNG has asked contractors to submit bids next year for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on its project to build a new processing train at its Qalhat liquefied natural gas (LNG) production complex in Sur.

  The LNG train will be the fourth at the Qalhat complex, located in the sultanate’s South Al-Sharqiyah governorate, Oman LNG announced last July. The new train will have an output capacity of 3.8 million tonnes a year (t/y) and is expected to be commissioned in 2029, raising Oman LNG’s total production capacity to 15.2 million t/y.

  According to sources, Oman LNG has set deadlines of February and March for contractors to submit technical and commercial bids, respectively, for the fourth LNG train project.

  MEED recently reported that Oman LNG shortlisted the following contractors to participate in the EPC tendering exercise for the fourth LNG train project:

  • Chiyoda (Japan) / Samsung C&T (South Korea)
  • JGC Corporation (Japan)
  • Saipem (Italy) / Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea)

  Oman LNG also hosted site visits in June for prequalified contractors.

  Oman LNG performed the preliminary engineering study for the planned fourth LNG train. It awarded US-headquartered KBR a contract to execute front-end engineering and design (feed) works on the project in November.

  Separately, in June, Oman LNG awarded Japan-based Kanadevia Corporation a contract to perform pre-feed work for a pilot methanation plant, and a detailed concept study for future commercial scaling of the facility.

  The proposed facility is expected to produce 18,000 normal cubic metres of e-methane an hour.

  The pilot plant will comprise three components: a seawater desalination unit, equipment for producing hydrogen via water electrolysis and a methanation system that combines hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide to produce e-methane.

  The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding that Oman and Japan signed in March 2024, covering collaboration in hydrogen, fuel ammonia and carbon recycling. 

  Oman LNG operations

  Oman LNG is a joint venture of the sultanate’s Ministry of Energy & Minerals, which holds the majority 51% stake, and foreign stakeholders.

  The remaining 49% is held by UK-based Shell (30%); France’s TotalEnergies (5.54%); South Korea’s Korea LNG (5%); Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation (2.77%); Japan’s Mitsui & Company (2.77%); Thailand’s PTTEP, following the acquisition of Portuguese firm Partex (2%); and Japan’s Itochu Corporation (0.92%).

  Oman LNG presently operates three trains at its site in Qalhat, with a nameplate capacity of 10.4 million t/y. Following debottlenecking, total production capacity increased to approximately 11.4 million t/y.

  Oman LNG secured $2bn-worth of project financing in 1997 to set up its first LNG export terminal in the sultanate, the Qalhat LNG terminal, which was commissioned in 2000.

  On 1 September 2013, Qalhat LNG was integrated with Oman LNG to form a single entity.

  The terminal exports gas produced by state oil and gas producer Petroleum Development Oman from its central Oman gas field complex. Oman LNG’s customers are mainly based in Asia, although the company has been expanding its client base outside the continent in recent months.

  In April, Oman LNG announced the start of turnaround activities at the third LNG processing train, which has an output capacity of 3.3 million t/y. The third train commenced operations in 2006 and primarily processes gas produced at the Saih Nihayda field in central Oman.

  ALSO READ: TotalEnergies studies expansion of Marsa LNG project in Oman

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  Indrajit Sen
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  Italian firm wins contract for Tunisia power link

  29 September 2025

  Italy’s Prysmian Group has won a contract to build a submarine electricity interconnection between Italy and Tunisia as part of the Elmed Project.

  The tender was launched by Italian transmission system operator Terna and Tunisian grid operator Steg.

  Prysmian said the deal initially provides for a “preliminary activation phase” and is subject to certain conditions.

  Once met, the contract value could reach about €460m ($540m).

  The connecting cable will run between the Partanna substation in Sicily and the Mlaabi substation on Tunisia’s Cap Bon peninsula. It will cross the Strait of Sicily at depths of up to 800 metres. Installation will be carried out using the cable‑laying vessel Monna Lisa.

  Prysmian, listed on the Italian stock exchange, has previously delivered several subsea cable projects for Terna, including the Tyrrhenian Link, for which it set a world record by installing a high‑voltage direct current (HVDC) cable at a depth of 2,150 metres during sea trials.

  Other projects include the Adriatic Link between Marche and Abruzzo and the SA.CO.I.3 HVDC project linking Sardinia, Corsica and Italy.

  Backed by the EU, the Elmed Project is a scheme to build a 600MW HVDC submarine interconnector between Sicily and Tunisia, with completion targeted for 2028. The project is the first direct electricity link between Italy and North Africa. 

  The only existing subsea electricity interconnections between North Africa and Europe are the two Spain–Morocco links across the Strait of Gibraltar, commissioned in 1997 and 2006. 

  

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  Mark Dowdall
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  GCC pushes PPPs to deliver $70bn pipeline

  29 September 2025

  

   

  This package also includes: A new dawn for PPPs

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  GCC governments are increasingly turning to public-private partnerships to deliver strategic projects off-balance sheet, driving a surge in PPP tendering across the region. 

  According to data from regional project tracker MEED Projects, the value of PPP schemes tendered in 2025 stood at over $4bn as of 31 August, already equal to the full-year figure for 2024. 

  Several billions of dollars’ worth of projects are still expected to be floated in the last four months of this year as governments look to implement PPP schemes beyond the conventional sectors of power, water and pipelines.

  In September, for instance, Riyadh tendered the $2.5bn Aseer-Jizan highway. The project is one of four planned highway schemes in the kingdom’s privatisation and PPP pipeline.

  In the long term, PPP activity in the region is poised for continued growth. A total pipeline of $70bn-worth of PPP projects will provide opportunities for contractors and financiers for years to come.

  PPP leaders 

  Saudi Arabia is leading the region’s shift to PPPs. Since 2021, the kingdom has awarded over $12.5bn of PPP contracts as it strives to deliver its large-scale projects without relying fully on government budgets. 

  Major Saudi PPP schemes include Neom’s $5.6bn housing deals for worker accommodation, the redevelopment of Medina airport and, most recently, the signing of SR2.2bn ($586m) of agreements by Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) for the privatisation of cargo terminals at eight ports. 

  Riyadh’s PPP drive is being led by the National Centre for Privatisation & PPP, which oversees a portfolio of hundreds of projects across 16 sectors. This includes about $47bn of PPPs in the construction and infrastructure sectors, including an upgrade of a new passenger terminal building at Abha International airport and several sports stadiums that are required for the 2034 Fifa World Cup.

  Meanwhile, the UAE has also committed to boosting private sector participation in infrastructure projects. 

  In Abu Dhabi, the Zayed City schools scheme was the first project to move forward when a new federal PPP law was introduced in 2022. Since then, schemes such as a 2023 road lighting project and a scheme in 2024 to develop student accommodation at Khalifa University have been implemented as PPPs.

  In April, Abu Dhabi established a platform called Gridora to support private and PPP entities in delivering infrastructure developments. The following month, Gridora signed a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Projects & Infrastructure Centre to deliver transport infrastructure projects worth over AED35bn ($9.5bn).

  Dubai’s Department of Finance is also ramping up infrastructure PPPs, with 17 projects worth over AED5bn ($1.36) under way, on top of major power and water sector schemes. In 2023, the city launched its DP3 platform to streamline PPP planning and delivery.

  A total pipeline of $70bn-worth of PPP projects will provide opportunities … for years to come

  Regional PPP growth

  Elsewhere in the GCC, construction and infrastructure sector PPPs are still in the early stages, but opportunities are emerging. 

  Bahrain’s PPP pipeline sits at just over $8bn and includes the country’s long-standing metro project. The estimated $6bn scheme is part of Bahrain’s Public Transport Masterplan 2030 and involves the construction of a 184-kilometre monorail system, which is expected to be implemented in four phases.

  Kuwait is also deploying the PPP model for the delivery of key infrastructure, most notably for the next phases of Mubarak Al-Kabeer port, with China Harbour Engineering Company signing an early contractor involvement agreement in May. Additionally, the government has initiated a 90-project pipeline to stimulate PPP investment in various sectors.

  Oman, meanwhile, launched its PPP programme in 2021 after the promulgation of its PPP law in 2019. At the time, it was understood to include 49 projects in the education, healthcare, logistics and utilities sectors. 

  In 2023, the tender of the Salalah-Thumrait truck road was launched, the sultanate’s first road project to be implemented under a PPP model.

  Last year, Petroleum Development Oman also tendered the Manazil PPP project, which will provide staff accommodation facilities within its Block 6 hydrocarbons concession.

  Tendering is also progressing on the Oman Business Gateway PPP project to develop a new headquarters for the Commerce, Industry & Investment Promotion Ministry in Muscat.

  Finally, in Qatar, the country’s PPP law, issued on 31 May 2020, provides the legal framework for private sector participation in infrastructure projects that support the goals of National Vision 2030.

  Last year, a PPP contract to develop 14 schools was awarded to local firm Urbacon Trading & Contracting Company. The PPP market then gained fresh momentum this year when Ashghal, Qatar’s Public Works Authority, issued a tender for consultants to support its long-term plan for delivering public infrastructure through PPP projects.

  Under this plan, a diverse set of projects have been earmarked for procurement, including phase two of the National Housing Subdivision Development project, Al-Khor Equestrian City, sewage treatment facilities, a cancer hospital and Doha’s long-awaited Sharq Crossing project. 

  Tendering is also under way for a PPP project to develop Doha’s West Bay Waterfront mixed-use district.

  These initiatives reflect the wider GCC trend, as regional governments turn to PPPs to deliver major infrastructure, mobilise private investment, and drive long-term urban and economic growth.

  A new dawn for PPPs

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Saudi Arabia opens Jubail 3B and Dammam West projects

  29 September 2025

  Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

  Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has inaugurated two major water and wastewater projects in the Eastern Province.

  The ceremony was held under the patronage of Prince Saud Bin Nayef Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, governor of the Eastern Province, and attended by Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley, minister of environment, water and agriculture, along with senior officials and the SWPC executive team.

  The Jubail 3B independent water plant (IWP), which reached commercial operations last year, has a desalination capacity of 570,000 cubic metres a day, supported by storage facilities of equal size.

  The project includes a 3.5-kilometre transmission pipeline, 167 electrical towers and 59.3km of overhead transmission lines. It is being delivered under a build, own and operate (BOO) model by a consortium of Engie (France, 40%), Aljan (Saudi Arabia, 30%) and Nesma (Saudi Arabia, 30%).

  The total cost is SR2.64bn ($704m), with a 25-year concession to serve Riyadh and Qassim. The scheme also integrates 61MW of renewable energy and applies local content targets rising from 40% during construction to 70% after six years of operation.

  The Dammam West independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP) has a treatment capacity of 200,000 cubic metres a day. Developed under a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) model, the project is led by Metito (UAE, 40%), Orascom (Egypt, 20%) and Mowah (Saudi Arabia, 40%).

  The $185m facility is operated by the Dammam West Company for Water under a 25-year contract to serve the Dammam region.

  According to SWPC, local content will increase from 50% during the early years of operation to 70% after the sixth year.

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  Mark Dowdall
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  A new dawn for PPPs

  29 September 2025

  

   

  There has been a major shift in the region’s projects market over the past year as governments widen their plans for public-private partnership (PPP) projects. 

  In his opening address at the fifth PPP Mena Forum in Dubai in September, Nasser Massoud, founder and managing director of concept realisation and chair of the social sector PPPs chapter at the World Association of PPP Units & Professionals, outlined how PPPs will help countries across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region to realise their economic and social visions, such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, Oman’s Vision 2040 and the UAE Centennial 2071. 

  “At the heart of these visions lies infrastructure and service improvement, healthcare systems that improve lives, schools and housing that target communities, airports and transport networks that connect, and projects that ensure sustainability for generations to come. Governments cannot do this alone. Partnerships are no longer simply financing mechanisms. They are strategic enablers of national transformation,” he said.

  Risk and rewards

  For the private sector to come in, PPP projects need to be bankable. “PPPs need to be resilient and robust. They aim to extend for 15-30 years. Value for money is achieved when the risks are allocated to the party best able to manage them,” Massoud said. He added that governments should avoid overloading private partners with risks beyond their control. 

  James Cook, CEO of Tribe Infrastructure Group, who was also speaking at the PPP Mena Forum, noted: “If governments retain too many risks, the private sector is unlikely to participate. If they pass over risks that the private sector cannot manage, bidders will either walk away or price them inefficiently.”

  PPPs are not new to the region. In the power and water sector, they have been used for two decades on assets designed for power generation, desalination and sewage treatment. 

  In these sectors, the model is tried and tested, with governments signing offtake agreements with the private sector developer company, and while the details vary from project to project, the basic framework and allocation of risk is something the market understands and is willing to take on. 

  Outside the power and water sectors, the track record of PPPs is patchy. In the past 20 years, PPPs have been used successfully for the development of airports at Medina in Saudi Arabia and Amman in Jordan, and for universities in the UAE.

  There have also been examples of PPP projects that have failed to proceed. The highest-profile was the highway connecting Mafraq and Ghuweifat in Abu Dhabi, but there are others, such as the Union Oasis real estate development in Dubai, and more recently the Bahrain metro scheme. 

  In 2025, there is a sense that there is a new dawn as the market prepares itself for a golden age of PPP projects. 

  Traditionally, governments have looked to PPPs at times when oil prices have not been high enough to support all of their infrastructure spending plans. While that is the case today, the impetus behind privatisation and PPPs has been building for several years and reflects a growing acceptance that getting the private sector to deliver projects offers benefits beyond reduced capital expenditure requirements.

  PPPs will help countries across the Mena region to realise their economic and social visions 

  Saudi push

  In an interview with the Economist in January 2016, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who at the time was Deputy Crown Prince, discussed the potential of an initial public offering for Saudi Aramco for the first time, and also mentioned that the healthcare, education and military industries sectors, as well as some state-owned companies, could benefit from private sector participation. 

  “It will decrease some of the pressure that the government has, and some of them may create good profit,” he said. 

  The Vision 2030 document that was released later that year emphasised the role of PPPs in sectors including renewable energy, improving business environments and infrastructure development. The plans outlined the need to encourage private investment and the competitiveness of services, streamline government operations that facilitate private sector contribution and leverage private investments for development projects. These measures aim at improving the overall business environment in Saudi Arabia and easing the private sector’s participation in national economic development.

  Nearly 10 years after Vision 2030 was launched, the National Centre for Privatisation & PPP (NCP), which is the government agency responsible for coordinating, structuring and implementing privatisation and PPP initiatives in the kingdom, has 200 planned PPP projects in 16 sectors.

  The NCP has already helped to deliver several PPP projects. Saudi contracting firms BEC Arabia and Mobco Group recently announced that they have completed the construction works on the first phase of the Wave 2 PPP schools project in Medina. The $320m scheme involves the financing, design, construction and facilities management of 60 schools for a period of 23 years.

  The construction period was three years under a build, maintain and transfer model. A consortium comprising local firms Vision Invest and Al-Omran Group, and Canadian engineering firm AtkinsRealis is developing the project, while Saudi Arabia’s Education Ministry and Tatweer Buildings Company (TBC) are the joint procurers of the scheme.

  The first phase, which is referred to as Wave 1, included the development of 60 schools in Jeddah and Mecca and achieved financial close in 2021.

  Speaking at the PPP Mena Forum, Tatweer Mosaab R Alburshid, chief PPP officer at TBC, said that attentions in Saudi Arabia are now turning to brownfield projects. “We’re thinking beyond construction – integrating education services and ensuring access to communities,” he said. 

  “That evolution is partly pragmatic. With more than 18,000 schools nationwide requiring rehabilitation, the kingdom needs models for refurbishment, as well as new builds.”

  Alburshid also said: “Attendance rates in our PPP schools jumped from around 70% to 95%”, noting that for him, this is the proof that “social infrastructure PPPs must be judged not only by on-time delivery or lifecycle cost, but by whether they change lives at scale”.

  UAE momentum

  PPPs are also gaining momentum in the region’s second-largest projects market, the UAE. In 2022, a new federal PPP law was agreed, and emirate-level PPP laws exist in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

  Abu Dhabi in particular has thrown its weight behind PPPs in recent years, and to support those efforts has formed several entities. In 2019, it formed the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (Adio) to work with government entities to attract private sector investment into projects in the emirate.

  In 2023, it formed the Abu Dhabi Projects & Infrastructure Centre (Adpic) to oversee and manage capital projects in the emirate in the fields of housing, infrastructure, tourism, community facilities and education.

  In May 2025, Adpic signed a memorandum of understanding  with Gridora to deliver transport infrastructure projects in the UAE capital. Abu Dhabi-based investment entities ADQ, International Holding Company and Modon Holding formed Gridora in April to support private and PPP entities in delivering infrastructure developments.

  These efforts have resulted in successes. For example, in 2022, Adio awarded the contract for the Zayed City Schools project, the UAE’s first PPP in school infrastructure, to a consortium led by construction group Besix and Australia’s Plenary. The contract covers the design, build, finance, maintenance and transfer of three campuses with a capacity of 5,360 students.

  In Dubai, PPPs are also being relied upon to deliver major infrastructure projects. Dubai Municipality has tendered the first two packages of the $22bn Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnels project, which will convert the existing sewerage system from a pumped system to a network of deep gravity sewers. The project is split into six PPP packages with concession periods of 25-35 years.

  In Dubai, PPPs are also being relied upon to deliver major infrastructure projects

  Pipeline pressures

  As the Mena PPP pipeline grows, capacity will become an issue. The region’s PPP resources are finite, and while they are expected to grow, they are unlikely to grow quickly enough to satisfy all of the projects that are planned. However, consultants are already working with government bodies on a phasing plan that reflects national priorities, to prevent projects going out to tender and not attracting enough serious bidders. 

  The related concern for developers is that some of the planned projects will not proceed. Bidding for PPP projects is a costly and time-consuming exercise, so developers need to be confident that projects will move forward. 

  “As a developer, the two big challenges are pipeline credibility and project preparation,” said Lennert Rasking, head of infrastructure at Besix Middle East, at the PPP Mena Forum.  “We need visibility on what will actually proceed.” 

  As the region stands at the cusp of a golden age for PPP projects, early momentum must come with bankable projects, proper risk allocation, credible pipelines and scaled-up capacity. If the region gets those fundamentals right,
  PPPs will move from a novel solution to a default option for delivering infrastructure. 

  Main image: Medina airport was the first airport PPP for the GCC aviation sector

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  Colin Foreman