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• 
  Contractor kicks off EPC work on Uthmaniyah gas compression package

  12 August 2026

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  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 & Partners Company for Contracting – has kicked off work on the Uthmaniyah gas compression plant package in Saudi Arabia.

  The package forms part of a wider Saudi Aramco project to boost gas compression capacity at the Shedgum and Uthmaniyah processing plants in the Eastern Province.

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

  Aramco formally awarded the key engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Uthmaniyah gas compression plant package to SNSH in June.

  The value of the contract won by SNSH is estimated at $1.24bn, sources previously told MEED. Separately, Milan-headquartered Saipem said its share of the contract is €900m ($1.04bn) and that the EPC works will run for 42 months.

  The scope covers the EPC of a new compression plant serving the non-associated Uthmaniyah gas field, Saipem said in its statement. Saipem added 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 Uthmaniyah gas compression plant contract is one of nine EPC packages under the broader Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas compression project. The packages are:

  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 package 6 (early works site preparation) to local firm Al-Shalawi International Company Trading & Contracting, sources told MEED.

  Aramco is also understood to be in discussions with India’s Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (L&T), among other bidders, for package 1 (Shedgum gas compression facility and SGP in-plant works), sources said.

  Separately, Aramco was said to be in negotiations with a consortium of China’s Sinopec and Dammam-based Al‑Qahtani Pipe Coating Industries for package 4 (Uthmaniyah gas compression pipelines). However, the consortium fell short of providing bond guarantees and did not meet other Aramco requirements, leading to its break-up, sources told MEED. Aramco may now open discussions with other bidders for the package.

  Meanwhile, Khobar-based Arkad Engineering & Construction has emerged as the lowest bidder for package 3 (Shedgum gas compression pipelines), with Aramco expected to award the contract in 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.

  Photo credit: Saipem via

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

  Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

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

  > AGENDA: Expo 2030 Riyadh construction gathers pace > WORLD CUP: What the 2026 World Cup means for Saudi Arabia 2034 > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge > INDUSTRY REPORT: GCC banks prove resilient amid turmoil > LEADERSHIP: Private capital and the GCC infrastructure inflection > PORTS: Geopolitical risk shapes $513bn of global ports projects > INTERVIEW: Developers look beyond standalone solar

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

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  KJO selects contractors for Dorra gas project offshore packages

  12 August 2026

  

   

  Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) has selected contractors for two major offshore packages under its multibillion-dollar Dorra field facilities development project. The Dorra gas field is located in the waters of the Saudi-Kuwait Neutral Zone.

  KJO – jointly owned by Aramco subsidiary Aramco Gulf Operations Company and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation subsidiary Kuwait Gulf Oil Company – has divided the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) scope for the Dorra gas production project into four packages: three offshore and one onshore.

  US-based McDermott International has secured offshore package 2A, valued at about $1.5bn, according to sources.

  A consortium of India’s Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (L&TEH) and Italian contractor Saipem has secured package 2B, sources told MEED. Estimated at about $3.7bn, package 2B is the largest of the three offshore EPC packages under the Dorra field facilities project.

  MEED reported in March that the L&TEH/Saipem consortium had emerged as the lowest bidder for offshore package 2B.

  Contractors submitted bids for offshore packages 2A and 2B by the 9 March deadline, MEED previously reported. Bid validity was understood to expire on 15 August, prompting KJO to issue letters of intent to the selected contractors earlier this month, sources said.

  Offshore package scopes

  The EPC scope of work on the two offshore packages of the Dorra gas field facilities project is as follows:

  Package 2A – Dorra gas field wellhead topsides, flowlines and umbilicals

  • Seven gas wellhead platforms or topsides, with production routed to the central gathering platform
  • Corrosion-resistant, alloy-lined intra-field flowlines and umbilicals connecting the gas wellhead platforms to the central gathering platform and the auxiliary platform

  Package 2B: Dorra central gathering platform complex, export pipelines and cables

  • Central gathering platform
  • Auxiliary platform
  • Dorra accommodation platform
  • Flare platform
  • Bridge platform
  • Pipelines for gas and condensate transmission to each shareholder
  • Produced water pipeline from the central gathering platform to Al-Khafji field and from the planned onshore processing facility next to the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait to Al-Khafji field
  • Recovered monoethylene glycol (MEG) pipeline from Al-Khafji field to the central gathering platform
  • Control and power system linking Al-Khafji onshore facilities to offshore units
  • Offshore central control room at Dorra accommodation platform.

  Regarding the first offshore package, MEED reported in October last year that KJO awarded India’s L&TEH a contract estimated at $140m-$150m. Offshore package 1 covers the EPC of seven offshore jackets and the laying of intra-field pipelines.

  Separately, KJO is understood to be holding discussions for package 3 with Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas, which emerged as the lowest bidder, as MEED reported in March. Sources said a final client decision on the award is pending.

  Onshore package scope

  The scope of work on the only onshore package of the Dorra gas field facilities project is as follows:

  Package 3: Onshore gas processing facilities

  • Buildings to be constructed as part of KJO’s Dorra project onshore package include:
    • Dorra control building
    • Operator building
    • Operations, maintenance and engineering building
    • Process interface building
    • Onshore 115/69kV substation
    • Two gas-insulated substations
    • Warehouse
    • Maintenance building
    • Mosque
    • Telecommunications tower radio building
    • Beach valve substation at the planned onshore processing facility next to the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait
       
  • Processing facilities for KJO’s onshore package:
    • Produced water receiving and treatment
    • Sour water stripping and treated water system
    • Rich MEG storage tank
    • MEG regeneration and reclamation
    • Recovered hydrocarbons system
    • Lean MEG storage and supply
    • Fresh MEG storage and supply
    • Beach valve stations at Al-Khafji and Al-Zour
       
  • Utilities:
    • Instrument and plant air system
    • Nitrogen generation system
    • Diesel storage and distribution system
    • Fuel gas system
    • Closed drain and slop tank system
    • Hazardous area open drains system
    • Industrial water system
    • Drinking water system
    • Flare gas recovery system and a low-pressure flare system
    • Fire water system
    • Emergency diesel generator
    • Sewage treatment

  Discovered in 1965, the Dorra gas field is estimated to hold 20 trillion cubic metres of gas and 310 million barrels of oil.

  Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been pressing ahead with their plan to jointly produce 1 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas from the Dorra gas field.

  The two countries have been producing oil from the Neutral Zone – primarily from the onshore Wafra field and offshore Khafji field – since at least the 1950s. With a growing need to increase natural gas production, they have been working to exploit the Dorra offshore field, understood to be the only gas field in the Neutral Zone.

  Progress has been hampered by a dispute over ownership of the Dorra gas field. Iran, which refers to the field as Arash, claims it partially extends into Iranian territory and asserts that Tehran should be a stakeholder in its development. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia maintain that the field lies entirely within their jointly administered Neutral Zone – also known as the Divided Zone – and that Iran has no legal basis for its claim.

  In February 2024, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reiterated their claim to the Dorra field in a joint statement issued during an official meeting in Riyadh between Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

  France-based Technip Energies has performed the entire concept study and feed work on the overall Dorra gas field development programme.

  ALSO READ:

  • Client seeks fresh PMC bids for Dorra gas project

  • Local firm wins site preparation works for Kuwait gas plant

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Syrian court gives death penalty to Bashar Al-Assad

  11 August 2026

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  A Syrian court has sentenced former president Bashar Al-Assad to death after trying him in absentia, convicting him of crimes committed during the country’s nearly 14 years of civil war.

  It is the first such ruling under Syria’s transitional authorities, who ousted Al-Assad in December 2024 and vowed justice and accountability for crimes committed under his rule.

  Al-Assad fled to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on Damascus after a lightning offensive.

  In a Damascus court, Judge Fakhr Al-Din Al-Aryan convicted Al-Assad of crimes including “premeditated murder, the intentional killing of more than one person, the intentional killing of children under 15 years … torture, torture leading to death, and deprivation of liberty on multiple occasions” — acts the court classified as crimes against humanity and war crimes.

  “He is therefore sentenced to death,” the judge said in his ruling.

  The court also sentenced six former military and security officials to death in absentia, including Al-Assad’s brother Maher, who ran the army’s elite Fourth Division and also fled the country.

  Those convicted included former defence minister Fahd Al-Freij and Louay Al-Ali, who headed military intelligence in Daraa province in 2011.

  ALSO READ: Syria charts post-war reconstruction course

  The officials were convicted of crimes including murder, incitement to murder, torture leading to death and repeated deprivation of liberty, also classified as crimes against humanity and war crimes.

  Former security official Atif Najib – the only defendant tried in person – was also sentenced to death for crimes against humanity committed while he headed political security in Daraa province, the cradle of the country’s 2011 uprising.

  Najib, a cousin of Al-Assad who was arrested in January last year, was convicted of crimes including murder, the intentional killing of children under 15 and torture leading to death.

  The acts attributed to him are “crimes against humanity”, the court said as it handed down “the harshest punishment … which is the death penalty”.

  ALSO READ: US lifts sanctions on Syria after the EU takes similar action

  Syria began proceedings in April against Al-Assad and other officials, accused both in person and in absentia of atrocities during the civil war, which erupted after the former authorities’ brutal repression of pro-democracy protesters.

  More than half a million people were killed and millions displaced, while tens of thousands disappeared, many into the country’s brutal prison system.

  The uprising began in Daraa in March 2011 after 15 students were arrested for allegedly writing anti-government slogans on the city’s walls.

  Residents said the students were tortured, prompting protests demanding their release that ended in bloodshed.

  Security forces suppressed demonstrations and fired live ammunition to disperse sit-ins at several locations.

  Najib was dismissed after the crackdown as protests spread to other provinces.

  Judge Al-Aryan said Najib had denied the charges and shown “no remorse”.

  Al-Assad took power in Syria in 2000 in an unopposed election following the death of his father, Hafez Al-Assad, who was president from 1971.

  ALSO READ: Syria exports first crude oil batch in 14 years

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  MEED Editorial
• 
  Tecnicas Reunidas says Bapco bond guarantees remain suspended

  11 August 2026

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  Spain-based Tecnicas Reunidas has clarified that neither the company nor its partners in the joint venture of contractors executing work on the Bapco Modernisation Programme (BMP) have had to make any bond-guarantee-related payment to their client, Bahraini state energy conglomerate Bapco Energies.

  Bapco Refining, a subsidiary of Bapco Energies, awarded the main contract for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the BMP, worth $4.2bn, to a consortium of three contractors in February 2018 led by France’s Technip Energies and including Tecnicas Reunidas and South Korea’s Samsung E&A.

  The BMP aims to upgrade the Sitra refinery — Bahrain’s only oil refining asset — which is 90 years old and has crude refining units within its battery limits that are 75 years old. The estimated $7bn project will increase the kingdom’s crude oil refining capacity from 267,000 barrels a day (b/d) to 400,000 b/d.

  In a notification issued to the Madrid Stock Exchange on 10 August, Tecnicas Reunidas said Bapco’s ability to execute performance guarantees had been halted in June in Spain, France and South Korea — the home jurisdictions of the three contractors.

  “Consequently, neither the JV nor any of its members have had to pay these guarantees,” Tecnicas Reunidas said in its disclosure, issued in response to media reports about Bapco executing bond guarantees related to the BMP.

  ALSO READ: Bahrain taps consultants for studying use of nuclear power

  Meanwhile, in its filing with Bolsas y Mercados Espanoles, Tecnicas Reunidas said the joint venture continues to execute EPC work on the BMP.

  Despite “initiating arbitration to protect its rights, it has been working over the past two months with the client to reach an amicable agreement satisfactory to both parties”, the Spanish contractor said.

  “Tecnicas Reunidas considers that the outcome of these discussions will not produce additional material impacts beyond those already included in our semi-annual accounts,” it added.

  Although Bapco Energies officially inaugurated the BMP scheme in December 2024, work remained pending on the full commissioning and start-up of the modernised Sitra refinery.

  In an interview with MEED at the time, Mark Thomas, Bapco Energies group CEO, said that the EPC contractors remained on site, and total completion of works could take up to another year.

  Attacks on Bahrain – and specifically on Bapco Energies facilities – this year by Iran, in its conflict with the US and Israel, are understood to have further delayed work on the BMP.

  Bapco Energies was forced to declare force majeure across its operations following two missile strikes on the Sitra oil refinery on 5 and 9 March. A third strike on the facility took place on 5 April, hitting a storage tank and starting a fire.

  A key hydrogen production unit, thought to have been installed during EPC works on the BMP, was also reportedly damaged in one of the attacks.

  ---

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

  Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

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

  > AGENDA: Expo 2030 Riyadh construction gathers pace > WORLD CUP: What the 2026 World Cup means for Saudi Arabia 2034 > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge > INDUSTRY REPORT: GCC banks prove resilient amid turmoil > LEADERSHIP: Private capital and the GCC infrastructure inflection > PORTS: Geopolitical risk shapes $513bn of global ports projects > INTERVIEW: Developers look beyond standalone solar

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

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Medina invites bids for major stormwater project

  11 August 2026

  

   

  Saudi Arabia’s Madinah Municipality has issued a tender for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to upgrade the city’s rainwater drainage network.

  According to regional project tracker MEED Projects, it is the first main contract tender the municipality has issued for a major water infrastructure project since 2022.

  The $30m project covers the construction of rainwater drainage networks and the repair of existing stormwater pipelines across major roads and corridors within the urban area of Medina.

  It aims to improve the performance of the city’s stormwater drainage system, reduce surface flooding, and protect roads and nearby assets during heavy rainfall.

  The bid submission deadline is 5 September.

  According to MEED Projects data, Madinah Municipality completed two rainwater drainage network projects in Medina in 2024.

  The local Al-Ayuni Investment & Contracting was the EPC contractor for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects. Saudi contractor Azmeel Contracting also previously submitted bids for both projects.

  The municipality is also understood to be nearing completion of a separate Phase 1 rainwater drainage network project in Al-Rawabi in Al-Madinah province. This project was tendered in 2022 and awarded to Al-Naeim Contracting (Saudi Arabia) in 2023.

  Meanwhile, Madinah Municipality received prequalification documents at the beginning of the year for two stormwater drainage projects in Yanbu. It is unclear if the main contract tender will be issued this year.

  ---

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

  Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

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

  > AGENDA: Expo 2030 Riyadh construction gathers pace > WORLD CUP: What the 2026 World Cup means for Saudi Arabia 2034 > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge > INDUSTRY REPORT: GCC banks prove resilient amid turmoil > LEADERSHIP: Private capital and the GCC infrastructure inflection > PORTS: Geopolitical risk shapes $513bn of global ports projects > INTERVIEW: Developers look beyond standalone solar

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

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18325305/main.jpg

  Mark Dowdall