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Orascom and Tecnicas Reunidas sign $2.6bn Qurayyah deal

24 March 2025

A joint venture of Egypt's Orascom Construction and Madrid-based Tecnicas Reunidas has signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build the Qurayyah independent power producer (IPP) expansion project in Saudi Arabia.

The 50:50 joint venture will build the 3,010MW combined cycle gas-fired power plant in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

The EPC contract is valued at more than $2.6bn, Orascom said in a statement.

The team signed the EPC contract with Hajr Two Electricity Company, a consortium of Saudi utility developer and investor Acwa Power, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Haji Abdullah Alireza & Company (Haaco).

The Cairo-headquartered contracting firm said this project takes its total power generation portfolio to over 30GW, including two 4.8GW combined cycle gas-fired power plants constructed in Egypt.

SEC and Acwa Power signed a power-purchase agreement with the principal buyer, Saudi Power Procurement Company, for the expansion of the Qurayyah independent power project (IPP) in Saudi Arabia in February this year.

The Qurayyah IPP expansion project is expected to be carbon capture-ready, Acwa Power and SEC said in separate bourse filings on 20 February.

SEC and Acwa Power will each have an effective shareholding of 40% in the project, which is valued at SR13.4bn ($3.6bn). Haaco will own the remaining 20%. 

The three firms will develop, finance, build, own and operate the combined-cycle gas turbine plant.

The project also includes the development, financing, construction and transfer of a 380-kilovolt electrical substation.

The project duration is 25 years from the plant's commercial operation date.

Acwa Power, South Korea's Samsung C&T, Mena Infrastructure Fund and SEC own Hajr Electricity Production Company, the development company behind the existing 3.9GW Qurayyah 1 & 2 IPP in Saudi Arabia.

The Qurayyah 1 & 2 IPP facility reached commercial operations in 2015.

A team comprising Samsung C&T and Germany's Siemens (Energy) won the project's EPC contract in 2012. Siemens Energy deployed 12 units of its SGT6-5000F gas turbines at the Qurayyah 1 & 2 IPP.

MEED’s April 2025 report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> UPSTREAM: Saudi oil and gas spending to surpass 2024 level
> DOWNSTREAM: Aramco’s recalibrated chemical goals reflect realism
> POWER: Saudi power sector enters busiest year
> WATER: Saudi water contracts set another annual record
> CONSTRUCTION: Reprioritisation underpins Saudi construction
> TRANSPORT: Riyadh pushes ahead with infrastructure development
> BANKING: Saudi banks work to keep pace with credit expansion

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