Related Articles

• 
  Brent hits $112 a barrel following Saudi oil field attack

  22 October 2026

  Oil prices climbed more than 3% on 22 October after a drone targeting Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field development killed two people and injured two others a day earlier, adding to concerns over energy supplies as attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure intensified.

  Global benchmark Brent crude hit $112.30 in early trading on 22 October, but later pared gains and was trading at $111.52 a barrel as of 11am GST.

  Three residents and a Saudi citizen were killed in two separate incidents in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on 21 October, authorities said, as attacks on the kingdom accelerated following an escalation of hostilities with the Iran-backed Houthi group in neighbouring Yemen.

  Overnight, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen announced that it had intercepted and destroyed four drones in the Eastern Province.

  Saudi air defences intercepted a drone attempting to target a processing facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field development on the morning of 21 October, the Saudi Ministry of Energy said.

  The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) carried a statement quoting an energy ministry official as saying the attempted attack resulted in the deaths of two residents – a Filipino and a Nepali – and injuries to two others – an Indian and a Pakistani – after debris fell due to the interception.

  Following the interception, a fire broke out in a vehicle belonging to a contractor at the Shaybah oil field, outside the facility’s perimeter, with no impact on operations.

  Dammam airport attack

  Separately, a Houthi attack on King Fahd International airport in Dammam on the evening of 21 October killed an Indian resident and a Saudi citizen.

  Eight people were also injured in the attack, including a Saudi national, a Nepali, and two nationals each from India, Yemen and Bangladesh. Injuries ranged from minor to critical, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) said the next day.

  “The attack also caused property damage, the extent of which is currently being assessed. Further updates will be provided,” Gaca said, adding that operations had since resumed at Dammam airport.

  Saudi Arabia has come under sustained attack from the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel group in October, including strikes on Riyadh’s international airport in what authorities described as the kingdom’s deadliest incidents in years, as the war with the group escalates.

  The Houthi militias also struck an administrative building at Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, in the Eastern Province, on 13 October, resulting in a limited fire.

  The Houthi rebels opened a new front in the regional war between Iran and the US in mid-July, when they breached a four-year truce with Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s civil war, which began in 2014, and started attacking Saudi vessels and Aramco energy assets along the Red Sea, including repeated strikes on the Jizan refinery.

  The 1,200-kilometre East-West pipeline operated by Aramco was also hit by Houthi missiles in September, and once directly by Iran in April.

  The East-West pipeline transports crude from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province oil fields to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu on the kingdom’s west coast. It has a pumping capacity of 7 million barrels a day.

  Saudi Arabia relies heavily on the East-West pipeline to bypass the volatile Strait of Hormuz maritime chokepoint and ship crude from its Red Sea coast. Riyadh has increasingly used the line to route exports away from Hormuz since the US-Iran conflict began on 28 February – a tactical advantage most of its Gulf neighbours lack.

  Aramco resumed crude exports via the pipeline at the start of October.

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Riyadh tenders Expo 2030 Adaptation and Innovation Pavilion

  21 October 2026

  

   

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  Expo 2030 Riyadh has tendered the design-and-build main contract for the Adaptation and Innovation Pavilion in the exhibition’s Technology District.

  The pavilion will be built on a plot of at least 12,710 square metres and will feature a two-level basement, ground-level public areas, an elevated skywalk, visitor experience areas, food and beverage outlets, retail space, VIP facilities, offices, back-of-house areas, exhibition spaces, an amphitheatre and a resonance hall.

  The facility is being designed to accommodate a minimum of 20,000 visitors a day at peak periods, with an anticipated average of about 15,000 visitors a day. The project targets LEED Gold certification.

  The tender was issued on 1 October, with bids due on 6 January 2027.

  The design-and-build contractor will be responsible for completing, reviewing, verifying, coordinating and technically integrating the design, including specialist contractor design portions and coordination with the novated lead design consultant.

  The scope includes completing early works and substructure activities, including grading, bulk earthworks, excavation, cut and fill, soil improvement, raft foundations, reinforced-concrete basement walls, basement columns through to the ground-floor slab, waterproofing, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) provisions, and backfilling.

  The contractor will also deliver the superstructure and building envelope, including structural works, facade engineering and installation, roofs, waterproofing, external finishes, and permanent facade access and maintenance systems. The internal works will cover front-of-house and back-of-house areas, public and core spaces, internal finishes, fixtures, fixed fittings, joinery, circulation areas, lobbies, stairs, toilets, storage, waste areas and associated builder’s works.

  The building services package includes MEP systems, information and communications technology, extra-low-voltage systems, building management systems, security, fire and life safety systems, specialist lighting and vertical transportation.

  The contract also covers the visitor experience package, including procurement, installation, integration, testing, commissioning and handover of visitor-facing environments, media, immersive and audiovisual technologies, interactive elements, experiential lighting, digital content, interpretive and wayfinding systems, controls and supporting infrastructure.

  Within-plot infrastructure and utilities, landscaping, public realm works, paving, planting, irrigation, signage, street furniture, drainage, stormwater systems, external lighting, security, and fire and life safety systems are also included.

  The contractor will be responsible for procurement, off-site fabrication, construction, testing and commissioning, performance verification, training, operations and maintenance documentation, operational readiness, handover, defects rectification and close-out.

  The main works tender is based on a 60% RIBA Stage 3 design, with the Stage 3 design to be completed to 100% through an addendum.

  Early works and substructure works, as well as the lead design consultant, will be novated to the contractor. Visitor experience works are included as a provisional sum.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Chinese/local joint venture wins Qiddiya stadium facade

  21 October 2026

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  A joint venture of China’s Fangda Group and Saudi Arabia’s IKK Group has secured a SR1.15bn ($306m) contract to deliver curtain wall facade works for the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Stadium in Qiddiya City, Riyadh.  

  The contract was awarded by the joint venture of Spain’s FCC Construccion and local contractor Nesma & Partners, which is building the stadium under an estimated SR15bn ($4bn) main contract awarded by Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC) in October 2024.  

  The IKK-Fangda joint venture will design, supply and install curtain wall façade systems for the main stadium (Lot 1), as well as for the museum and ancillary buildings (Lot 3).

  The contract has an execution period of 863 days.  

  The stadium will seat about 47,000 spectators and will be the home ground for Saudi Pro League clubs Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal.

  The facade award follows the appointment of Elegancia Arabia, a subsidiary of Qatar-based Elegancia MEP and Estithmar Holding, to deliver the stadium’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing works.

  The SR829m ($221m) contract is Elegancia Arabia’s largest award in Saudi Arabia to date.

  The project is being designed by US-based consultant Populous.

  It is among the venues planned for the 2034 Fifa World Cup and will also host the Saudi King Cup, the AFC Asian Cup and the 2034 Asian Games.  

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Zamil Steel wins $82m Qiddiya tennis centre contract

  21 October 2026

  Advanced Building Industries Company (Senaat) has announced that its subsidiary, Zamil Structural Steel Company (Zamil Steel), has secured a SR308m ($82m) contract for the National Tennis Centre in Qiddiya City, Riyadh.  

  The 19-month contract was awarded by the joint venture of France’s Bouygues Batiment International and local contractor Almabani General Contractors Company.  

  Zamil Steel’s scope includes the fabrication, supply and installation of structural steel and external facades for the scheme.   

  MEED reported in June that the Bouygues Batiment International-Almabani joint venture had started construction of the National Tennis Centre.  

  The development will include 30 tennis courts, comprising 28 hard courts and two clay courts. The main Centre Court will seat 15,000 spectators and feature a retractable roof.

  The facility is being designed to meet standards set by the Association of Tennis Professionals, the Women’s Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation.  

  The development will also include an 8,000-seat multipurpose arena with a retractable roof, known as Court 3. Other facilities include a 5,000-seat Court 1, a 2,000-seat Court 2, six competition courts, six indoor courts and 14 practice courts. Each outdoor match court will provide 450 seats.  

  Total seating capacity across the complex will be 33,000. US-based architect Populous designed the project.  

  Qiddiya Investment Company officially announced the project on 15 June. The developer has said the centre will be the region’s largest tennis complex and will host international tennis events.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Eni starts to bring gas processing facility online in Egypt

  21 October 2026

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  Italy’s Eni has started to bring its Meleiha Phase 2 (MP2) project online in Egypt’s Western Desert, according to statements from the company and Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources.

  The project includes a new gas processing facility designed to process up to 100 million standard cubic feet of gas a day.

  Eni is a part owner of the project through Agiba Petroleum Company, a joint venture of Eni and state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC)

  The main contract for the project was awarded to the Egyptian engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company Petrojet.

  The scope of the project included:

  • Laying 200 kilometres of pipeline
  • Drilling 28 wells
  • Construction of a gas sweetening unit
  • Construction of a gas recovery unit
  • Installation of gas purification and liquids separation units
  • Installation of utilities and supporting infrastructure
  • Construction of natural gas processing plant
  • Construction of associated facilities

  In its statement, Eni said: “The project represents a key milestone in the development of a new gas hub within the Merged Meleiha concession and will significantly increase the gas processing capacity for production from the area’s fields, supporting the growth of domestic gas output and the valorisation of Egypt’s energy resources.”

  The Meleiha and Meleiha Deep concessions were combined into a single concession known as the Merged Meleiha concession in 2021.

  Eni said that the new facilities “will ensure the connection of new production to Egypt’s existing gas infrastructure, enabling the rapid monetisation of resources and enhanced operational efficiency”.

  It added: “The launch of the project confirms Eni’s role as a strategic partner of Egypt and reaffirms the company’s long-standing commitment to contributing to the country’s energy security through the development and valorisation of the Western Desert’s diversified resource base, one of the most promising areas of Egypt’s energy sector.”

  Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954 and produced approximately 242,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the country on an equity basis in 2025.

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  Wil Crisp