Related Articles

• 
  November 2025: Data drives regional projects

  25 November 2025

  Click here to download the PDF

  Includes: Top 10 global contractors | Brent Spot Price | Construction output

   MEED's 2025 EPC contractor ranking

  ---

  MEED’s December 2025 report on Bahrain includes:

  > COMMENT: Manama pursues reform amid strain
  > GVT & ECONOMY: Bahrain’s cautious economic evolution
  > BANKING: Mergers loom over Bahrain’s banking system
  > OIL & GAS: Bahrain remains in pursuit of hydrocarbon resources
  > POWER & WATER: Bahrain advances utility reform
  > CONSTRUCTION: Bahrain construction faces major slowdown
  > TRANSPORT: Air Asia aviation deal boosts connectivity

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

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15149339/main.gif

  MEED Editorial
• 
  Bahrain pursues reform amid strain

  25 November 2025

  Commentary
  John Bambridge
  Analysis editor

  Cautious optimism defines Bahrain’s current economic moment as the country presses ahead with a broad agenda of diversification, reform and targeted investment. Yet the more assertively Manama moves to reshape its future, the more the tension between its ambition and its fiscal constraints becomes evident as the defining feature of its policymaking.

  Bahrain’s projects sector, which has now been shrinking for the past seven years, is emblematic of the country’s constricted spending. This year, contract awards have fallen to their lowest value in a decade. This signals a decisive shift to a more disciplined investment strategy aligned with fiscal realities and a more selective approach to forward-looking capital spending. 

  The diminished projects market is in turn a challenge for the financial sector, which now faces a receding pool of project financing and other contracting loans. This is giving further impetus to the potential consolidation of local lenders in the overbanked market, which is also beset by thinning margins, rising compliance costs and pressure to scale amid financial system modernisation. While it could create short-term pain, consolidation should boost the financial health of legacy lenders and provide stability in a sector increasingly being defined by new digital banking models and innovation.

  Yet even as some sectors change, Bahrain’s government remains deeply reliant on hydrocarbons, which continues to drive exploration, including in the technically complex Khaleej Al-Bahrain basin. These activities reflect the practical need to maintain oil revenues in the medium term and, should additional recoverable reserves be discovered, a potent source of optimism.

  Manana is meanwhile looking to overhaul the utilities sector by creating a dedicated regulator and new national operator. The reforms should make space for greater private participation, drawing more capital into power and water projects while improving efficiency and reducing state expenditure in an aspirationally positive step towards greater long-term sustainability.

  Even as fiscal concerns narrow Manama’s policy options, it continues to secure strategic wins. A new aviation agreement with Air Asia establishes Bahrain as a regional hub for one of Asia’s largest low-cost carriers. This move opens new connectivity corridors and, alongside the renewal of direct Gulf Air routes to the US, reinforces Bahrain’s position as a gateway between regions, promising benefits for tourism, logistics and services.

  Overall, Bahrain’s economic trajectory remains delicately balanced – marked by reform-driven progress yet tempered by fiscal constraint. But in threading this needle, Manama shows that cautious optimism can still be a powerful catalyst for change.

  

   

  ---

  MEED’s December 2025 report on Bahrain includes:

  > GVT & ECONOMY: Bahrain’s cautious economic evolution
  > BANKING: Mergers loom over Bahrain’s banking system
  > OIL & GAS: Bahrain remains in pursuit of hydrocarbon resources
  > POWER & WATER: Bahrain advances utility reform
  > CONSTRUCTION: Bahrain construction faces major slowdown
  > AVIATION: Bahrain signs game-changer aviation deal with Air Asia

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

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15109785/main.gif

  John Bambridge
• 
  Chinese firms expand oil and gas presence

  25 November 2025

  

   

  > This package also includes: Larsen & Toubro climbs EPC contractor ranking

  ---

  Chinese contractors have been present in the oil and gas projects market in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region since the turn of this century, but largely remained on the fringes. In a hydrocarbons market that has traditionally been dominated by European and American contractors, and those from Japan and South Korea, Chinese firms have become a rising force, especially since the start of the decade.

  Economic competitiveness in bid battles, significant improvement in engineering and technological capabilities and commitment to execution schedules have been primary factors behind the success of Chinese contractors in the regional oil and gas projects market since 2020.

  Competitive edge

  Traditionally, Chinese engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have enjoyed a lower cost base than their international competitors. This comes from lower manpower costs, access to cheaper materials and equipment, and financial support from state banks. 

  In addition, Chinese firms have typically had a different attitude to risk than many other contractors. Instead of seeking to turn a profit on specific projects, Chinese firms have entered markets cautiously and, as their knowledge of the local market grew, built a commanding long-term position.

  More recently, the edge that Chinese contractors enjoy has come from the technical experience they have gained from delivering large-scale, complex projects in their domestic market. While in the past Chinese contractors were only considered capable of delivering basic construction work, they now have some of the best project references in the world.

  Regional leaders

  Chinese EPC contractors have strengthened their performance in the Mena oil and gas projects market, particularly since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 2023, the combined value of projects won by Chinese firms has consistently remained well over $13bn, with them winning key contracts on major projects.

  The largest EPC scheme under execution by a Chinese contractor in the region is on a project to maintain and increase the oil production potential of the Bul Hanine offshore oil field development in Qatar. China Offshore Oil Engineering Company won contracts worth $4bn for the two main EPC packages of the project in the third quarter of 2025.

  Also this year, Abu Dhabi’s Taziz awarded the main EPC contract to build a complex of specialty chemicals plants in the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone at Ruwais Industrial City to China National Chemical Engineering & Construction Corporation Seven (CC7). 

  The EPC contract is valued at $1.99bn, with work expected to be completed by Q4 2028. The chemicals cluster, known as Project Salt, will produce 1.9 million tonnes a year of marketable polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene dichloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and caustic soda.

  Chinese contractors have also enjoyed success in Saudi Arabia, with Aramco having awarded several key EPC contracts to Chinese firms since 2023. China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Company, Sepco and Sinopec Petroleum Services are executing EPC works on four out of the 17 packages of the third expansion phase of Aramco’s Master Gas System project.

  Sinopec Group has played a significant role in Aramco’s Jafurah unconventional gas development in Saudi Arabia. In a consortium with Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas, in 2024 Sinopec won packages one and two of the Riyas natural gas liquids scheme, part of the second Jafurah unconventional gas expansion phase. The combined value of the two EPC contracts was $3.2bn.

  Just weeks after securing these EPC contracts, the consortium also won the contract to deliver the entire scope of work on the scheme’s third expansion phase, valued at $2.24bn.

  In Iraq, China Petroleum Engineering (CPE) won a major contract in August to carry out EPC works on a package covering a major seawater transmission pipeline to be built in Basra as part of the larger Common Seawater Supply Project, which is one of four main components of the estimated $10bn Gas Growth Integrated Project masterplan.

  Work on the $2.52bn contract will be carried out by CPE’s engineering arm, China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering.

  China has built up extensive resources, from skilled personnel to technical know-how. As the domestic market shows signs of slowing, these resources are being deployed internationally, supporting the growing presence of Chinese contractors in the Mena region.

  MEED's 2025 EPC contractor ranking

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15149182/main.gif

  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Saudi housing entity awards infrastructure contract

  24 November 2025

  

   

  Saudi Arabia’s National Housing Company (NHC) has awarded Riyadh-based Alomaier Trading & Contracting Company a contract to carry out infrastructure works at its Khuzam residential development in Riyadh.

  The scope of work covers all infrastructure works across an area of 4,000,000 square metres (sq m) in stage three, phase three of the Khuzam residential project.

  Construction works have started, and the project is expected to be completed in 2028.

  NHC’s Khuzam project is located to the north of Riyadh, near King Khalid International airport and the Expo 2030 site.

  The development will offer more than 50,000 residential units and will include parks, commercial areas and other associated amenities.

  It will also feature a grand park spanning an area of more than 4.5 million sq m.

  MEED reported in 2020 that Riyadh planned to oversee the development of more than 1 million homes by 2025 to meet growing demand in the kingdom.

  By 2030, the Saudi capital aims to more than double its population, from 7-8 million to 15-20 million, and become one of the 10 wealthiest cities in the world.

  Alomaier Trading & Contracting is undertaking some major infrastructural development projects across the kingdom.

  In 2023, MEED reported that Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company had awarded a contract worth SR371m ($99m) to Alomaier Trading & Contracting. It covers the construction of a sewage network in Dammam’s King Fahd suburb and adjacent areas.

  The contract also involves the construction of regression lines with diameters of up to 700 millimetres (mm) and a total length of 300 kilometres (km), as well as five ejection lines with diameters of up to 500mm and a total length of 15km, according to data obtained from the regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

  The firm specialises in the construction of roads, railways and other infrastructural development works.

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15141143/main.jpeg

  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Saudi utility firm awards water transmission contract

  24 November 2025

  Saudi Arabia’s state-owned utility National Water Company (NWC) has awarded a contract for the operation and maintenance of water distribution networks to local firm International Water Distribution Company (Tawzea).

  The project comprises the operation and maintenance of water transmission pipelines in Medina province, Sisco Holding announced.

  Sisco Holding, also known as Saudi Industrial Services Company, holds a 50% stake in Tawzea. The other 50% stake is owned by Amiantit Water, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company.

  The contract is valued at SR133.4m ($35.6m) and has a duration of 36 months.

  It covers main and secondary pipelines, reservoirs, pumping stations, valves and all related components of the water distribution system.

  NWC has also been advancing major sewer network expansion plans in Hafar Al-Batin and Al-Qaisomah.

  The utility recently awarded local firm Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies (AWPT) a contract to deliver the next phase of this project.

  The phase four (part two) package involves constructing about 184 kilometres of sanitary sewer pipeline.

  As of September, NWC had awarded $337m-worth of contracts. This includes a separate contract awarded to AWPT in August for a sewage network scheme in Al-Kharj governorate.

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15140733/main.jpg

  Mark Dowdall