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• 
  Petrokemya awards contract for ethylene oxide project

  27 February 2026

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  Petrokemya, an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), has awarded China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation (CNCEC) the main contract for an ethylene oxide catalyst project.

  The project covers engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of a new 4,000-tonne-a-year (t/y) ethylene oxide catalyst production unit, encompassing multiple units for catalyst carrier washing and drying, as well as supporting utilities.

  Ethylene oxide catalysts are the core technology of the ethylene oxide industry chain, directly determining production efficiency, product quality and energy consumption of the process unit.

  Petrokemya is a wholly owned affiliate of Sabic, with its main petrochemical production complex located in Jubail Industrial City, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

  The ethylene oxide catalyst project is the ninth contract awarded by Petrokemya to CNCEC since 2015. Previous jobs cover EPC works on seven specialty chemical projects and a project to upgrade and expand output capacity at Petrokemya’s main methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) production unit.

  Petrokemya awarded CNCEC the contract for the MTBE plant expansion project in November 2022, with the contractor starting work the following month.

  Through the project, the output potential of Petrokemya’s MTBE unit will increase from 700,000 t/y to 1 million t/y, purportedly making it the world’s largest single-unit MTBE plant.

  CNCEC achieved mechanical completion of the MTBE plant expansion project in August last year, and the project is now understood to have been commissioned.

  

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Regulatory environment shifting for Kuwait oil and gas tenders

  27 February 2026

  

   

  Changes to the way key contracts are tendered in Kuwait have increased expectations that the country is shifting to a new regulatory environment for oil and gas projects.

  Contractors interested in bidding for Kuwait’s planned tender for a $3.3bn gas processing facility have been briefed that the country’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (Capt) will not be involved in the tender process.

  The exclusion of Capt from participating in the tender process has come at a time of increasing concerns surrounding the role of the agency, and has sparked speculation that it could be excluded from an increasing number of strategic tenders in future.

  Capt is responsible for reviewing technical and commercial evaluations of bids and verifying that bidding is competitive.

  Prior to its suspension in May 2024, Kuwait’s parliament was often blamed for blocking projects and halting the initiatives of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

  However, the suspension of parliament has not triggered an uptick in project activity at KPC, indicating that other problems are holding back decision-making.

  As time has passed, many stakeholders have started to view Capt as a key sticking point in the tendering process.

  One source said: “There is a lot of frustration within some parts of the country’s oil and gas sector about the time it takes for Capt to review everything and approve a tender.”

  Although this is not completely unheard of for small contracts tendered by Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) to bypass Capt, it is unusual to see very large contracts bypass the agency.

  “A lot of people were very surprised when they heard that Capt would not be involved in this process,” said one source.

  “While the agency is resented by many in the sector that see it as a big reason for a lot of delays, it’s also highly respected for stopping corruption and bad practices.

  “If you look historically at which large contracts avoided a review by Capt or its predecessor, it was only the most critical and urgent projects.

  “The fact that this project is being permitted to side-step the agency’s process seems to mark a shift – and we could well see more big contracts following the same route in the future.”

  Past exceptions

  An example of a time period when key contracts were allowed to bypass Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC), the predecessor to Capt, was in 1991.

  During this time, in the wake of the Gulf War, urgent contracts needed to be tendered by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), including some related to extinguishing fires at oil wells, which were lit by retreating Iraqi troops.

  One source said: “I think the early nineties was the last time that large contracts were tendered by KOC without going through the relevant agency.

  “It is easier to bypass Capt when it is a KGOC contract, but it’s still very surprising to see it with a contract of this size.”

  If more contracts in the future are “fast-tracked” in the same way, it is likely that many stakeholders will welcome the effort to speed up tendering.

  However, some are worried that if the streamlined tendering model is replicated too widely, it could undermine checks and balances that stop corruption.

  “Kuwait is lucky as it has a system that makes corrupt practices very difficult to participate in,” said one source.

  “The country needs to be careful and make sure that it doesn’t undermine the rigour of the system by prioritising convenience.”

  Direct awards

  Another factor that has impacted expectations about the future of project tendering in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector is that the methods used for several large contracts have been recently tendered in other sectors.

  Key tenders that are impacting the discussions surrounding Kuwait’s oil and gas sector are the award of the $4bn Grand Mubarak Port contract to China Harbour Engineering Company in December and the award of a $3.3bn wastewater treatment plant contract to China State Construction Engineering Corporation in January.

  Both of those direct contract awards were government-to-government agreements that did not have an open tender process in Kuwait and were not approved by Capt.

  One source said: “These huge contract awards to Chinese companies without open tenders in Kuwait were extremely surprising.

  “If you had asked me at the start of last year whether this kind of thing would be signed off, I would have told you it’s highly unlikely.

  “I think there is no reason why we couldn’t see similar contract awards coming in the future in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector.”

  Another source said: “Just like the gas processing contract, these contracts awarded to Chinese firms seem to have side-stepped Capt in a way that is very surprising.”

  The planned $3.3bn gas processing facility is not the first time that KPC has tried to reduce its reliance on Capt for processing tenders.

  In April 2024, KPC launched its own tendering portal in an effort to streamline the tendering process for projects in the oil and gas sector.

  The portal was named the “KPC and Subsidiaries K-Tendering Portal” and is referred to as “K-Tender” by contractors.

  The portal gave KPC a way of tendering and communicating with contractors without relying on the Capt website.

  “The K-Tender portal was a step towards reducing reliance on Capt and gave KPC the flexibility to tender projects without Capt, even though, at the time, KPC made it clear that it intended to list all tenders both on the Capt website and its own portal.”

  The recent direct contract awards to Chinese contractors and the tendering process for the $3.3bn gas processing facility have sent a signal to contractors in the Kuwaiti market that more unusual tenders could be in the pipeline.

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  Kuwait awards oil pier contract

  27 February 2026

  Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has awarded local firm Gulf Dredging & General Contracting Company a $172m contract to help develop a new south arm facility at the Shuaiba oil pier.

  The scope of the contract covers civil, marine, mechanical and electrical work, according to a statement.

  Gulf Dredging & General Contracting Company is a subsidiary of Kuwait-headquartered Heisco.

  The main contractor on the Shuaiba oil pier project is the Greek construction firm Archirodon. In October last year, KNPC awarded Archirodon a KD160m ($528m) contract to develop the new south arm facility.

  The Shuaiba oil pier comprises several structures, including the approach trestle, the north arm facility and the south arm facility. A number of planned projects are to be developed at the Shuaiba port facilities.

  The north arm facility consists of two berths, 31 and 32. When operational, it loads refined products for both KNPC and state-owned Petrochemicals Industries Company.

  The north arm facility is currently not operational and will be upgraded as part of a separate project.

  KNPC is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

  Last year, KPC chief executive Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah reiterated that the company plans to increase its oil production capacity to 4 million barrels a day by 2035.

  About 90% of Kuwait’s oil production comes from Kuwait Oil Company, which also plans to achieve a daily gas production capacity of 1.5 trillion cubic feet by 2040.

  Kuwait is estimated to have 100 billion barrels of oil reserves.

  Under KPC’s 2040 strategy, it plans to invest $410bn, sourced from cash flow, debt and joint ventures with other businesses.

  Of the $410bn, KPC and its subsidiaries intend to invest $110bn to accomplish the group’s energy transition targets.

  

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  Local firms win $378m Qatar project contracts

  27 February 2026

  

   

  Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has awarded construction contracts for two major projects in Doha to a pair of local contractors.

  According to the results of the tender published on Ashghal’s website, a joint venture of Imar Trading & Contracting and Al-Sraiya Trading & Contracting won a QR1.1bn ($323m) contract for the redevelopment of Hamad General Hospital.

  Qatar Building Engineering won the other QR198.5m ($55m) contract for the design and build of the new Q-Post headquarters building and sorting facility.

  The two projects are part of 12 newly signed contracts announced by Ashghal earlier in February.

  The other projects awarded include the renovation of the Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club and the Qatar Equestrian Federation, as well as the implementation of phase four of the Al-Uqda Equestrian complex development.

  In the roads and infrastructure sector, four projects have been awarded, led by packages one and two of the road and infrastructure development works in Izghawa and Al-Thumaid.

  The awards also include a project covering landscaping and an air-conditioned walkway at Qatar University, as part of broader public facilities improvement initiatives.

  Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Meer, president of Ashghal, said that the projects have been awarded to Qatari firms, reflecting Ashghal’s commitment to strengthening the role of local companies.

  According to UK analytics firm GlobalData, Qatar’s construction industry is expected to expand by 4.3% in 2026, supported by investments in renewable energy and transportation infrastructure.

  According to the Planning & Statistics Authority, Qatar’s construction value-add grew by 6.6% year-on-year in the first half of 2025. 

  GlobalData expects the industry to grow at an annual average growth rate of 4.6% in 2027-29, supported by investments in construction, energy and infrastructure projects.

  

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Chemicals producers look to cut spending

  27 February 2026

  

   

  Following significant capital expenditure (capex) on petrochemicals and specialty chemicals projects in the first half of this decade, chemicals producers in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are expected to reduce spending in 2026 – and perhaps beyond.

  Two primary factors are understood to be behind this anticipated drop. With the bulk of their projects under execution and on course to enter operations between now and the end of the decade, both state-owned and private chemicals producers appear to be set to achieve their short- to mid-term capacity expansion goals.

  Also, with subdued global petrochemicals and chemicals demand putting sales margins under pressure, regional players are looking to rein in spending in order to remain profitable.

  Steady spending

  An estimated $71bn-worth of petrochemicals and specialty chemicals projects are in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) stage in the Mena region, with main contracts for the majority of these projects having been awarded in 2020-25, according to data from regional project tracker MEED Projects.

  The biggest chemicals project under EPC execution is the $11bn Amiral project in Saudi Arabia, which represents the expansion of Saudi Aramco Total Refining & Petrochemical Company (Satorp) in the petrochemicals sector. 

  Satorp, in which Saudi Aramco and France’s TotalEnergies hold 62.5% and 37.5% stakes, respectively, operates a crude refinery complex in Jubail that has the capacity to process 465,000 barrels a day (b/d) of Aramco’s Arabian Heavy crude oil grade to produce refined products such as diesel, jet fuel, gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, benzene, paraxylene, propylene, coke and sulphur.

  Integrated with the existing Satorp refinery in Jubail, the Amiral petrochemicals complex will house one of the largest mixed-load steam crackers in the Gulf, with the capacity to produce 1.65 million tonnes a year (t/y) of ethylene and other industrial gases.

  This expansion is expected to attract more than $4bn in additional investment in industrial sectors including carbon fibres, lubricants, drilling fluids, detergents, food additives, automotive parts and tyres.

  Another large-scale project under execution is the Al-Faw integrated refinery and petrochemicals project in Iraq. State-owned Southern Refineries Company brought on board China National Chemical Engineering Company in May 2024 to develop the estimated $8bn project.

  The Al-Faw project is being implemented in two stages. The first phase involves developing a refinery with a capacity of 300,000 b/d and will produce oil derivatives for both domestic and international markets. The second phase relates to building a petrochemicals complex with a capacity of 3 million t/y.

  EPC works are also progressing on the estimated $6bn Ras Laffan petrochemicals complex in Qatar, which will have the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East. The project is being developed by a joint venture (JV) of QatarEnergy and US-based Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem). QatarEnergy owns a majority 70% stake in the JV while CPChem holds the remaining 30%.

  The Ras Laffan petrochemicals complex is expected to begin production this year. It consists of an ethane cracker with a capacity of 2.1 million t/y of ethylene. This will raise Qatar’s ethylene production potential by nearly 70%.

  The complex includes two polyethylene trains with a combined output of 1.68 million t/y of high-density polyethylene polymer products, raising Qatar’s overall petrochemicals production capacity by 82% to almost 14 million t/y.

  A JV of South Korean contractor Samsung Engineering and CTCI of Taiwan was awarded the EPC contract for the ethylene plant, which is understood to be valued at $3.5bn. The EPC contract for the polyethylene plant was awarded to Italian contractor Maire Tecnimont, which said the value of its contract was $1.3bn.

  Decisive period

  More than $61bn-worth of petrochemicals and specialty chemicals projects are in pre-execution stages in the Mena region, according to MEED Projects, although contracts for less than a quarter of these schemes are set to be awarded in 2026.

  The largest capex programme in the regional chemicals sector that is expected to make progress this year is Saudi Arabia’s liquids-to-chemicals programme, the aim of which is to attain a conversion rate of 4 million b/d of Aramco’s crude oil production into high-value chemicals.

  Aramco has divided its liquids-to-chemicals programme into four main projects. The company has signed JV investment agreements with foreign partners this year for the four projects, which involve:

  > Converting the Saudi Aramco Jubail Refinery Company (Sasref) complex in Jubail into an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex with the addition of a mixed-feed cracker. The project also involves building an ethane cracker that will draw feedstock from the Sasref refinery. Front-end engineering and design (feed) work on the project is under way and is being performed by Samsung E&A. 

  > Converting the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (Yasref) complex into an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex with the addition of a mixed-feed cracker. China’s Sinopec is a JV partner in this project.

  > Converting the Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company (Samref) complex in Yanbu into an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex with the addition of a mixed-feed cracker. US oil and gas producer ExxonMobil, Aramco and Samref signed a JV framework agreement in December to begin preliminary feed work on the project.

  > Building a crude oil-to-chemicals complex in Ras Al-Khair in the kingdom’s Eastern Province. Progress on this project has been slow.

  Separately, Aramco subsidiary Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is in advanced negotiations with bidders for a project to build an integrated blue ammonia and urea manufacturing complex at the existing facility of its affiliate, Sabic Agri-Nutrients Company, in Jubail.

  The estimated $2bn-$3bn project is known as the low-carbon hydrogen (LCH) San VI complex. The project is part of Sabic’s Horizon 1 LCH programme.

  The planned San VI complex will have an output capacity of 1.2 million metric tonnes a year of blue ammonia and 1.1 million metric tonnes a year of urea and specialised agri-nutrients.

  

  Qatari project

  QatarEnergy, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with a project to expand its low-carbon ammonia and urea potential by building a production complex in Qatar’s Mesaieed Industrial City. The planned facility will have a total output capacity of 6.4 million t/y and is understood to be the eighth expansion phase of QatarEnergy’s fertiliser production complex in Mesaieed.

  QatarEnergy issued the main EPC tender for the blue ammonia and urea production facility expansion project last July and set a deadline of 15 April for contractors to submit bids. The state energy enterprise is expected to award the main contracts for the project by the end of this year. 

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  Indrajit Sen