Lummus targets large contracts in Saudi Arabia
26 September 2023
Register for MEED's guest programme
US-headquartered petrochemicals specialist Lummus Technology is expecting to grow rapidly in Saudi Arabia over the next decade, according to the company’s chief technology officer Ujjal Mukherjee.
Mukherjee is in the process of moving his entire team from the US to Saudi Arabia in order to capitalise on opportunities in the Middle East.
“The Middle East and North Africa are a key focus for us because of the scale of the planned capital expenditure in our industry,” he says.
“Within the region, Saudi Arabia is the most important to us because of the investments in petrochemicals that are planned.
“Qatar is also important because of its plans for natural gas and petrochemicals, but in terms of investment, Saudi Arabia is not just leading the region, but the entire world.”
Lummus is anticipating as many as 10 or 11 ethane crackers to be installed in Saudi Arabia over the next seven to eight years
Project expectations
Lummus says that Saudi Arabia’s plans to develop facilities with the capacity to convert 4 million barrels of crude oil to chemicals represent $100bn-$200bn in investment.
As part of the push to boost crude-to-chemicals production, Mukherjee is expecting at least four or five greenfield complexes to be developed in Saudi Arabia.
On top of this, he says there are several opportunities to upgrade existing facilities in the country, both in the eastern Jubail area and in the west coast’s Yanbu region.
Across all of these greenfield and upgrade projects, Lummus is anticipating as many as 10 or 11 ethane crackers to be installed over the next seven to eight years.
“This is a huge investment – and that is why everyone in the world of petrochemicals is focused on Saudi Arabia,” says Mukherjee.
“Elsewhere, China is slowing slightly and the Russian market is off limits. There are opportunities in Southeast Asia and India specifically, but the GCC nations are the most important.”
In addition to the GCC states, Lummus has significant interest in markets across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, including Egypt and Turkiye.
Turkiye is of particular interest because of its stated aim of becoming self-sufficient in terms of petrochemicals production, according to Fadi Mhaini, Lummus Technology’s managing director for Mena.
Turkiye is also in a financial position that means investments in world-scale petrochemicals plants are feasible.
The investment climate in Egypt is more challenging, but it remains of interest because of its significant reserves of oil and gas, large population and internal demand for petrochemicals products.
“There are 100 million people living in Egypt and there is a great demand for polymers and plastics,” says Mhaini.
Per capita consumption of plastics in Egypt is estimated to be 21.8 kilograms (kg) a year. This is compared to more than 130kg in the US.
Lummus sees this as a potential sign of pent-up demand for plastics and says new facilities that come online in Egypt could see significant success by supplying the local market.
Saudi challenges
While there are big opportunities in Saudi Arabia’s petrochemicals sector, Mukherjee says it remains a market with significant challenges.
“The biggest challenge we have is getting subject matter expertise in the complex technologies that we license, especially with the focus on employing local skilled labour,” he says.
“We have a lot of graduates coming from good universities there, but you need a certain degree of experience in absorbing these complex technologies.”
A key area of focus for Lummus is growing the number of experienced specialists that it employs and accelerating the transfer of knowledge from its experienced workers to the local talent pool in Saudi Arabia, as well as in other markets, including the UAE.
In order to achieve this goal, the company plans to create centres of excellence across the Mena region.
It has already created one in Bahrain, and says that it has proven effective at providing education for local operators in complex technologies and advanced computing tools.
By recruiting locally and relocating experienced staff from around the world, Lummus expects to grow its Saudi Arabia office from an initial size of about 50 employees to more than 200 in the next three to four years, according to Mukherjee.
While the cornerstone of business activities for Lummus is technology licensing, it plans to use its Saudi office to work with local companies to provide a wide range of services, including the provision of engineering work and of spare parts and equipment.
Project acceleration
Since Lummus was spun off by McDermott in a $2.7bn deal in 2020, one of the key strategic changes is a renewed focus on project streamlining and reduced project completion times.
Mukherjee says this has positioned the firm well to win contracts in Saudi Arabia, where the country’s leadership is keen to execute large-scale projects on an accelerated schedule.
“As soon as we learned that we were going to be an independent company, we decided to take advantage of all of the engineering tools that are part of our ecosystem and use them to accelerate the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) processes,” he says.
“We have used very advanced engineering tools to dramatically reduce the time it takes us to do early engineering and front-end engineering and design work.
“This means that we have to work with very highly skilled engineering contractors and get them started very early on in the procurement cycle.”
As part of Lummus Technology’s new focus on executing projects on an accelerated schedule, it has started to work more closely with several EPC contractors.
“Closer working relationships with these companies are a key way of creating a win-win situation for everyone involved,” he says.
Lummus estimates that the upcoming greenfield oil-to-chemicals projects in Saudi Arabia are each expected to be worth $20bn-$35bn.
“The size of these projects means that there is no EPC contractor in the world that can take them on alone,” says Mukherjee.
Fear of risk
One of the key challenges in Saudi Arabia’s petrochemicals projects sector is that several large international contractors are less keen to take on contracts that use the EPC model due to the potential risks.
Many companies are worried that unpredictable price inflation could mean the EPC contract model would leave them out of pocket if the cost of materials and equipment suddenly increases.
“Even working in consortium, there are very few companies globally that are well equipped to execute complex projects on this scale on an accelerated time schedule,” says Mukherjee. “The technology is there, but there is a risk averseness among many large EPC companies that have been burnt in the past.”
While the projects are difficult and will require close cooperation between different contractors, Mukherjee is confident that his company will play a key role in many of the planned petrochemicals facilities in Saudi Arabia.
He says it is likely that his company will win contracts on many of Saudi Arabia’s upcoming petrochemicals projects, and that the firm is expanding the office so that it can cooperate closely with clients and subcontractors in the country to provide quicker response times to any queries.
“By moving there, we want to make sure that [clients and subcontractors in] Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE know that they will not have to cross time zones to get immediate responses,” Mukherjee says.
Ujjal Mukherjee, Fadi Mhaini and the Mena team
Market outlook
Lummus is optimistic about how Saudi Arabia’s investment in petrochemicals production will benefit the country’s economy in the long term.
Mukherjee says Saudi Arabia could become an increasingly powerful force in global petrochemicals markets in the coming years if it manages to successfully execute the planned projects to an accelerated schedule.
“What Saudi Arabia has is one of the cheapest raw materials for petrochemicals production. The same is true for Qatar and Abu Dhabi,” he says.
“Very cheap oil and gas gives Saudi Arabia a huge advantage and competitive edge over places like South Korea.”
Mukherjee says that, in the past, South Korea maintained a competitive edge in terms of managing project schedules and costs.
He adds that a petrochemicals project that could be completed in 36-42 months in South Korea would previously have taken 60-72 months in Saudi Arabia.
Now, the difference is being reduced by Saudi Arabia’s plans to execute projects using an accelerated schedule.
“If Saudi Arabia can do it, it will put itself in a position where it will be a dominant force when it comes to manufacturing certain polymers,” he says.
Aligning the scheduled start-up of Saudi Arabia’s new wave of planned petrochemicals projects with trends in the global market is likely to be key to the kingdom's success, according to Mukherjee.
In the past year and half, the prices of key petrochemicals products have been subdued as large projects have come online in China and other locations.
This temporarily created an oversupply in certain chemicals despite global per-capita consumption having increased, Mukherjee says.
He believes global prices will stabilise after 2030 and that demand will outstrip that for both gasoline and diesel.
By the end of this decade, Mukherjee expects that demand for polyethylene in particular will start to grow robustly, as is demand for polypropylene – and that Saudi Arabia will be well positioned to take advantage of this growth.
Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.
Exclusive from Meed
All of this is only 1% of what MEED.com has to offer
Subscribe now and unlock all the 153,671 articles on MEED.com
- All the latest news, data, and market intelligence across MENA at your fingerprints
- First-hand updates and inside information on projects, clients and competitors that matter to you
- 20 years' archive of information, data, and news for you to access at your convenience
- Strategize to succeed and minimise risks with timely analysis of current and future market trends
Related Articles
-
Lebanon taps foreign players to assess resource potential8 June 2026
Lebanon’s oil and gas sector received a major boost in January this year when French energy major TotalEnergies, Italy’s Eni and QatarEnergy signed an agreement with the Lebanese government to enter the Block 8 concession in the country’s territorial waters and explore for gas reserves.
Under the terms of the deal, TotalEnergies will operate Block 8 and hold a 35% interest, while Eni and QatarEnergy will hold 35% and 30% stakes, respectively.
Block 8 has long been considered the most promising exploration area in Lebanese waters, but previous efforts to award the exploration permit were repeatedly delayed amid concerns over border tensions and political instability.
The block lies along the previously disputed maritime boundary between Lebanon and Israel. In 2022, the two countries signed an agreement to resolve the long-running maritime border dispute.
In a statement, TotalEnergies said: “The consortium's initial work programme on Block 8 consists of the acquisition of a 1,200-square-kilometre 3D seismic survey in order to further assess the area’s exploration potential.”
Exploration efforts
The Lebanese Petroleum Administration hopes that international oil companies will make discoveries that will help bolster the country’s struggling economy.
Lebanon signed its first offshore oil and gas exploration and production agreement in February 2018, awarding Blocks 4 and 9 to a consortium comprising TotalEnergies, Eni and Russia's Novatek following a licensing round in 2017.
In January 2023, QatarEnergy replaced Novatek in the consortium.
Under the agreement, QatarEnergy acquired Novatek’s 20% stake, as well as 5% each from TotalEnergies and Eni, giving the Qatari company a total stake of 30%. TotalEnergies and Eni each retained a 35% interest.
In TotalEnergies’ latest statement, chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne said: “Although the drilling of the Qana 31/1 well in Block 9 did not yield positive results, we remain committed to pursuing our exploration activities in Lebanon.
“We will now focus our efforts on Block 8, together with our partners Eni and QatarEnergy and in close cooperation with the Lebanese authorities.”
Futile attempts
More broadly, Lebanon’s offshore oil and gas sector faces an uncertain outlook, characterised by persistent delays, regional conflict and limited exploration activity.
Despite hopes that maritime agreements and improved diplomatic relations would trigger an energy boom, Lebanon currently produces virtually no oil or natural gas. Political bottlenecks, regional instability and previous dry wells have increasingly shifted attention towards alternative domestic energy solutions.
Lebanon’s ambition to become a hydrocarbon producer remains unfulfilled due to a combination of commercial and political obstacles. Initial optimism was tempered when consortiums led by TotalEnergies announced that no commercially viable gas discoveries had been made in either Block 4 or Block 9.
Despite holding licences for potentially prospective acreage, international companies have remained largely inactive in pursuing further deepwater exploration.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s third offshore licensing round, launched in 2024, has continued to face delays. Nine offshore blocks within the country’s exclusive economic zone were offered, but interest from exploration and production companies has been limited. As a result, the government has repeatedly extended submission deadlines.
Although the landmark 2022 maritime boundary agreement with Israel removed a major obstacle to exploration in southern waters, regional security concerns continue to influence the pace of development.
In late 2025, Lebanon approved a maritime boundary demarcation agreement with Cyprus aimed at clarifying jurisdictional rights and attracting investment to offshore areas.
Progress in northern waters also remains stalled. More than 652 square kilometres of offshore acreage overlap between Lebanese- and Syrian-claimed waters, making any resolution politically sensitive and diplomatically complex.
Regional volatility continues to weigh on investor confidence. While periodic ceasefires may provide temporary relief, ongoing tensions across the region still make large-scale energy infrastructure investments highly risky.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17145363/main.gif -
EtihadWE to auction Al-Zawra power generation assets8 June 2026
Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access
Etihad Water & Electricity (EtihadWE) is preparing to auction used power generation assets from its Al-Zawra facility in Ajman.
The 200MW Al-Zawra gas-fired power plant was developed by the former Federal Electricity & Water Authority (Fewa), which was succeeded by EtihadWE.
The sale includes gas turbines, generators and associated balance-of-plant equipment from the existing generation facility.
The main equipment being offered comprises two GE Vernova / General Electric heavy-duty gas turbines. The units are PG 9171E / 9E machines designed for dual-fuel operation using natural gas and distillate. The package also includes two generators.
EtihadWE said the assets will be sold on an “as is, where is” basis, with interested parties able to arrange site visits and inspections, subject to the relevant approvals.
According to industry sources, the utility’s two power plants in Ajman and Ras Al-Khaimah have been out of service since 2021, and the Ajman plant was decommissioned in 2023.
Companies interested in taking part in the auction should contact:Mohamed.Shabeer@etihadwe.com
khaled.reda@etihadwe.ae
Horizon.PMO@etihadwe.aehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143852/main.jpg -
Kuwait plans to award $988m upstream contract within 30 days8 June 2026
State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is planning to officially award a $988m project contract to India’s Larsen & Toubro within 30 days, according to industry sources.
The contract is focused on developing Jurassic Light Oil (JLO) export facilities and upgrading the existing export network.
Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (Capt) has approved the award of the contract for the construction of export crude storage facilities and upgrades to the country’s oil export infrastructure.
Now, talks are expected to take place between KOC and Larsen & Toubro to finalise the contract details.
Just two companies submitted bids for the contract in October last year.
The bidders were:
- Larsen & Toubro (India): KD303.5m ($988m)
- Petrofac (UK): KD310.6m ($1.01bn)
Following bid submission, state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) discussed the potential cancellation of the contract tender due to the bids coming in significantly over budget and Petrofac becoming ineligible to win contracts in Kuwait.
The financially troubled engineering company was temporarily banned from participation in tenders in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector in December last year.
It was given the ban after the company announced that it had applied to appoint administrators, a move that potentially put thousands of jobs at risk and increased uncertainty for projects worth billions of dollars in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.
Despite holding talks about the potential cancellation of the tender, KPC ultimately decided to proceed with the contract award process because it considered the project a high priority.
One source said: “Around the same time, projects worth around $8bn were cancelled because of bids coming in over budget, but this one has gone ahead because KPC sees it as an essential project.”
The project was originally tendered in November 2024, with a bid deadline of 1 December the same year.
The bid deadline was extended several times before bids were ultimately submitted.
Kuwait’s oil and gas sector is in turmoil as a result of the ongoing regional conflict that started on 28 February when the US and Israel attacked Iran.
Amid the ongoing conflict, Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance has stopped publishing its monthly report with details about revenues from oil exports.
While there are no official figures available, many experts believe that the country failed to export crude oil during April and May.
This is likely to have a severe impact on the country’s economy, which relies on oil exports for approximately 90% of government revenues.
READ THE JUNE 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDFGCC 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> MEED TOP 100: Middle East stocks recover unevenly> LEADERSHIP: Building the infrastructure that makes net zero possible> TRADE DEAL: UK-GCC trade deal talks concludeTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143767/main.png -
Amea Power signs 1.5GWh battery storage EPC contracts8 June 2026
UAE-based Amea Power has signed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts with China Energy Engineering Corporation (China Energy) for two standalone battery energy storage system (bess) projects in Egypt with a combined capacity of 1,500 megawatt-hours (MWh).
The contracts cover the 500MWh Horus battery storage project in Zafarana and the 1,000MWh Nefertiti battery storage project in Benban.
The agreements were signed on 4 June in the presence of Mahmoud Esmat, Egypt’s minister of electricity and renewable energy, Sheikh Hussein Al-Nowais, chairman of Al-Nowais Investments and Amea Power, and Ni Jin, chairman of China Energy.
The projects are part of Egypt’s wider programme to expand energy storage capacity and support the integration of renewable energy into the national grid.
According to the Ministry of Electricity & Renewable Energy, Egypt plans to increase battery storage capacity to 14,320MWh by 2028.
The ministry said the expansion of battery storage is required to support the growing share of solar and wind power generation, improve grid stability and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
The signing ceremony also included an agreement between Amea Power, China Energy and Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion to establish a battery storage manufacturing facility in Egypt.
The planned factory will have an annual production capacity of 3,000MWh.
Amea Power previously signed capacity purchase agreements with the Egyptian government to develop the country’s first standalone bess projects in 2025.
In March, the government announced it had signed power-purchase agreements for several renewable energy and battery storage projects with a combined capacity of 5.6GW.
These include a 900MW wind power project in the Red Sea Governorate, along with a 2,000MW solar power plant and a 2,000MWh battery storage facility in the Qena Governorate.
> Be recognised among the best in the industry at the MEED Projects Awards 2026 …
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143364/main.jpg -
Opec+ approves fourth consecutive oil output quota hike8 June 2026
The Opec+ alliance of oil producers has agreed a fourth increase in its oil output targets in as many months, even though the conflict involving Iran, the US and Israel is still preventing several members from pumping more crude.
The war has disrupted oil flows via the Strait of Hormuz, creating a severe supply crisis. Key Opec+ members, including Saudi Arabia, have been unable to supply customers in full since the end of February. The crisis for Opec+ deepened when the UAE left Opec after almost 60 years of membership.
Seven core members of Opec+ – which comprises Opec countries and a group of non-Opec states led by Russia – raised their output quotas from April to June by almost 600,000 barrels a day (b/d).
In practice, however, the group’s production has fallen sharply due to export cuts by Gulf members, averaging 33.19 million b/d in April compared with 42.77 million b/d in February, according to Opec figures.
At the latest meeting of Opec+ oil ministers on 7 June, the seven members agreed to increase targets by 188,000 b/d from July, Opec said in a statement. This matches the June hike, which was adjusted down from monthly increases of 206,000 b/d in April and May to take account of the UAE’s exit.
Iraq’s oil output quota will rise by 26,000 b/d from July under the agreement, an oil ministry spokesperson told Iraq’s state news agency.
On 5 June, oil prices fell to about $93 a barrel as traders gained confidence that renewed conflict between the US and Iran was becoming less likely. Prices were close to $72 before the war began on 28 February.
Brent crude rose sharply at the start of this week after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel on the night of 7 June, heightening fears that US-Iran peace talks might once again collapse. Israel has since retaliated with strikes in western and central Iran, despite calls from US President Donald Trump not to respond to the Iranian missiles.
Brent crude jumped by around 4.5% early on 8 June and was trading at $97.52 a barrel as of 11am GST.
The seven key Opec+ members are increasing production as part of the gradual unwinding of a 1.65 million b/d production cut agreed in 2023 by the coalition, which at the time included the UAE.
From July, the seven have about 567,000 b/d of the original cut left to return to the market – taking into account the UAE’s exit from 1 May – according to Reuters calculations.
That would imply the remainder of the cut will be unwound by the end of September if Opec+ maintains monthly hikes of about 188,000 b/d in August and September.
The seven of the 21 Opec+ members who met on 7 June were Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Russia and Oman. In recent years, only these seven – plus the UAE when it was a member– have been involved in the group’s output-policy decisions.
In a separate meeting on Sunday attended by all Opec+ members, ministers made no change to the group-wide output policy in place until the end of 2026, Opec+ said in another statement.
Opec+ is also reviewing members’ oil production capacity to use as a reference for 2027 production baselines, from which quotas are set. On Sunday, the group reaffirmed the importance of completing the assessment, the statement said.
ALSO READ: UAE to continue working with Opec, energy minister says
READ THE JUNE 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDFGCC 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> MEED TOP 100: Middle East stocks recover unevenly> LEADERSHIP: Building the infrastructure that makes net zero possible> TRADE DEAL: UK-GCC trade deal talks concludeTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17143267/main.jpg