Region to continue robust spending on oil and gas
29 December 2024
The upstream oil and gas industry in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region recorded more than $53bn of capital expenditure (capex) on oil and gas production projects in 2023.
It was forecast that the sector might never repeat that level of spending on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, especially with hydrocarbons producers striving to achieve their net-zero carbon emissions goals and broader sustainability commitments.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) led capex on Mena production projects in 2023, largely due to its $17bn spending on the Hail and Ghasha offshore sour gas development project.
Saudi Aramco was the second-largest spender in the region in 2023, on the back of the estimated $10bn-worth of EPC contracts it awarded for the second expansion phase of its Jafurah unconventional gas development. It also maintained spending on offshore field upgrade works, awarding about $5.3bn-worth of engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contracts.
Yet upstream project spending in 2024 year-to-date has surpassed 2023’s level, with Mena hydrocarbons producers collectively spending more than $58bn on oil and gas production capacity maintenance and expansion projects.
Record year
Iran emerged as the largest spender in the Mena upstream sector in 2024, with the country’s capex exceeding $22bn. State-owned Pars Oil & Gas Company spent $20bn on EPC contracts in March, on a project to boost gas output capacity at the South Pars field.
Iran shares the South Pars field with Qatar, where it is known as North Field. The natural gas reserve in the Gulf’s waters is estimated to hold 1,800 trillion cubic feet of gas and 50 billion barrels of condensates.
Pars Oil & Gas Company aims to produce 90 trillion cubic feet of gas and 2 billion barrels of condensates from the latest expansion phase of the South Pars field development. The company expects to generate $900bn in total revenues from the expansion project.
Qatar was the second-largest spender in the region in 2024, with state enterprise QatarEnergy advancing its North Field production sustainability (NFPS) project, which aims to support its liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion programme with gas feedstock.
QatarEnergy LNG, a subsidiary of QatarEnergy, awarded Italian contractor Saipem an estimated $4bn EPCI contract in September as part of the second phase of its NFPS project.
Saipem was awarded two packages, the scope of which encompasses EPCI work on a total of six platforms, approximately 100 kilometres (km) of corrosion resistance alloy rigid subsea pipelines of 28-inches and 24-inches diameter, 100km of subsea composite cables, 150km of fibre optic cables and several other subsea units.
Separately, in January, Qatar’s North Oil Company awarded $6bn-worth of contracts for four engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning packages on a project to increase oil production from its Al-Shaheen offshore oil field by about 100,000 barrels a day (b/d).
The project, known as Ruya, is the third capacity-expansion phase of the Al-Shaheen oil field, which has a production potential of 300,000 b/d at present. North Oil Company – a joint venture of QatarEnergy (70%) and France’s TotalEnergies (30%), which has been the operator of Al-Shaheen since July 2017 – aims to increase the field’s output through the Ruya project.
Saudi offshore spending
In late January 2024, the Saudi Energy Ministry directed Aramco to abandon its campaign to expand its oil production spare capacity from 12 million b/d to 13 million b/d by 2027. As a consequence, Aramco cancelled the tendering process for at least 15 tenders involving the EPCI of structures at offshore oil and gas fields.
Since that decision, however, Aramco has gone the other way, spending an estimated $4.5bn in 2024 on offshore EPCI contracts, known in the Aramco ecosystem as CRPOs.
Saipem has been the biggest beneficiary of Aramco’s offshore spending, winning all of the CRPOs awarded in 2024. In early May, Aramco awarded the contractor CRPO 143, which involves replacing an oil line between the Berri and Manifa oil fields in the kingdom’s Gulf waters.
Aramco then awarded Saipem the contract for CRPO 138, which involves laying a trunkline at the Abu Safah offshore field. The contract is estimated to be worth $500m.
The firm then scooped three major CRPOs in August, starting with CRPOs 132 and 139, the combined value of which is estimated to be about $1bn. In early September, Saipem began work on the two contracts, which involve the EPCI of structures to upgrade the Marjan, Zuluf and Safaniya offshore field developments.
Just days later, Aramco awarded Saipem CRPO 127, a $2bn contract that involves EPCI of topsides and jackets for wellhead platforms, a tie-in platform jacket and topside, rigid flowlines, submarine composite cables and fibre optic cables at the Marjan oil and gas field.
Jafurah development
Aramco has also made swift progress in 2024 on successive expansion phases of its programme to produce and process gas from the Jafurah unconventional development in Saudi Arabia. Spending on the Jafurah expansion projects, along with offshore contracts, helped to make the kingdom the third-biggest upstream spender in the Mena region.
Aramco awarded contracts on 30 June for the Jafurah second expansion phase, which aims to raise processing potential to up to 2 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of raw gas. Aramco awarded 16 contracts, worth about $12.4bn, for EPC works and drilling services for the second expansion phase.
Within weeks of those awards, a consortium of Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas and China’s Sinopec Group announced that it had been selected by Aramco to carry out EPC works on the third expansion phase at Jafurah, worth $2.24bn. The EPC scope mainly covers building three gas compression plants, each capable of processing 200 million cf/d. Aramco officially awarded the contract to the Tecnicas Reunidas/Sinopec consortium in late September.
Capex to hold steady
While the Mena upstream oil and gas industry may not be able to match its 2024 level of project capex in 2025, the sector is expected to maintain a robust level of spending, especially with national energy companies striving to achieve their strategic long-term oil and gas production capacity goals before the end of the decade.
Data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects suggests that the Mena upstream sector could invest about $40bn on projects in 2025, with gas output expansion schemes predicted to dominate spending.
In line with its target to increase gas production by 60% by 2030, with 2021 as its baseline, Aramco is on course to further advance its Jafurah unconventional gas production programme. It issued the main EPC tender for the fourth expansion phase of the programme in July, within days of selecting the main contractors for the third phase.
Contractors are preparing bids for the project, the scope of which is similar to that of the third expansion phase, and which is therefore understood to be valued at $2.5bn.
Saudi Arabia’s spending on offshore brownfield and greenfield EPCI contracts is set to remain high, with the tendering process under way for eight more Aramco CRPOs.
Four tenders were issued in August for CRPOs 149, 150, 152 and 153, which cover the EPCI works on the Arabiyah, Hasbah and Marjan offshore oil field developments. Of the four CRPOs, contractors in Saudi Aramco’s Long-Term Agreement (LTA) pool have submitted bids for 149, 152 and 153.
Separately, LTA contractors are also preparing bids for four tenders worth a total of $4bn, which will further expand the Zuluf offshore field development.
Meanwhile, Iran is expected to give shape to its plan for gas extraction from its North Pars field, along with raising output from its onshore and offshore oil fields. Increasing production is vital for Tehran in order to maintain steady volumes of exports to earn vital revenue for its economy, which has been crippled by years of international sanctions.
Pars Oil & Gas Company is estimated to have allocated $15bn to the North Pars gas field development project. However, with the project being in the study phase, and with Iran’s cash-strapped government barely able to provide support to its population, the scheme could see little to no progress in 2025.
In the UAE, with the deadline approaching for Adnoc’s target of raising crude output capacity to 5 million b/d by 2027, it is anticipated that the company will funnel billions of dollars into increasing the production potential of its onshore and offshore oil fields.
Adnoc Group subsidiary Adnoc Offshore is evaluating bids for three packages of a multibillion-dollar project to boost oil production at the Lower Zakum offshore hydrocarbons concession in Abu Dhabi. The goal of the first phase of the Lower Zakum long-term development plan is to raise the asset’s output capacity to 520,000 b/d by 2027 and maintain that level until 2034.
Adnoc Offshore has also started the tendering exercise for front-end engineering and design work on the second expansion phase of the Umm Shaif offshore oil field.
Another Adnoc Group subsidiary, Adnoc Onshore, has made a significant capex investment in growing crude output from its main Bab, Northeast Bab, Bu Hasa and Southeast fields. As a result, it is on course to award more contracts in 2025 to maintain and eventually increase output from these fields through its P5 projects, which aim to achieve an oil production potential of 5 million b/d by 2027.
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Dubai real estate buys time
17 March 2026
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The outbreak of the Iran-US-Israel war has injected a powerful dose of uncertainty into Dubai’s residential real estate market, a sector already bracing for a cyclical cooldown.
A new report from S&P Global Ratings, published on 16 March, outlines the parameters of the risk.
The core argument is that while Dubai is not facing an immediate 2008-style collapse, the market’s resilience is now a function of time. If the conflict intensifies beyond a one-month horizon, the strains on prices, investor confidence and developer balance sheets could become severe.
Momentum stalls as caution takes hold
The most immediate impact of the conflict has been psychological. According to S&P, official sources are already reporting lower transaction volumes since the war began. The prolonged war could mark the end of the post-pandemic boom, shifting the market into a phase of guarded caution.
The luxury segment, which has driven much of the recent growth, is seen as the most vulnerable. High-net-worth individuals who relocated to Dubai for its perceived safety and tax advantages may now reconsider their positions, given that the city’s ‘safe haven’ status is being tested.
S&P’s baseline forecast assumes the most intense phase of fighting will last up to four weeks. Under this scenario, the market will likely experience a slowdown in both volumes and prices, with the declines being more pronounced the longer the uncertainty drags on.
The report notes a flight to liquidity, predicting that secondary market transactions will become more prevalent as investors seek to offload properties, further suppressing values.
Apartments are expected to suffer steeper price drops than villas due to a robust supply pipeline.
Regulatory shields and the threat of a prolonged conflict
One of the central tenets of the report is that Dubai’s post-2008 regulatory framework provides a crucial buffer. Escrow accounts and stringent payment plans mean that for projects already under way, developers should be able to complete construction, barring a wave of mass investor defaults.
The rules offer significant protection: developers can retain up to 40% of the property value if construction is on schedule, refund the remainder, and repossess the unit for resale.
However, this protection has limits. S&P warns that a prolonged war scenario would test these regulations. If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, supply chains for construction materials could bottleneck, driving up input costs. More critically, the rules that protect developers would only be effective up to a point.
In a deep and lasting downturn, project cancellations would become likely, particularly for newly launched developments that have not secured substantial presales.
The analysis suggests that while top-tier developers weathered past downturns with delinquency rates of just 3-10%, the figure for newer, less experienced players could be much higher.
Rated developers have headroom, but it is not infinite
The four major developers rated by S&P with exposure to Dubai are Emaar Properties, Damac Properties, PNC Investments and Omniyat Holdings. All of these players enter the period of uncertainty from a position of relative strength.
The report highlights that years of strong sales have created significant revenue backlogs covering several years.
Emaar leads with the revenue backlog of about $37bn, equivalent to 2.7 years, while Damac holds about $22bn of backlog, representing 2.3 years.
Their leverage is low, and cash positions are meaningful. As of 31 December 2025, Emaar held $7.5bn in cash and liquid investments, with $11.7bn as escrow cash balance.
Damac holds $1.7bn in total cash, including $6bn in escrow, while PNCI and Omniyat hold more modest balances of $600m and $600m, respectively.
S&P has built “substantial headroom” into their credit ratings to absorb sudden shocks.
The liquidity assessments for all four companies are adequate, with manageable debt maturities in 2026.
The critical question is duration. If the conflict grinds on, the buffers will narrow.
S&P states that in a prolonged scenario, its reassessment will focus on construction progress, cash collection and working capital.
The financial policies of management teams, specifically their willingness to maintain low leverage and cut dividends, will be key to preserving creditworthiness.
Capex and dividends under review
The war will also force a recalibration of corporate strategy. The report notes that investment decisions are likely to be postponed or cancelled. While commitments for projects nearing completion will proceed, companies will prioritise liquidity over new land purchases.
This is most pronounced for Emaar, which has sizeable capital expenditure plans of AED10bn-AED11bn ($2.7bn-$3bn) annually in 2026-27 for projects such as Dubai Creek Tower, Dubai Creek Mall and the expansion of Dubai Mall. S&P believes a significant portion of this spending is flexible and can be delayed if needed.
Dividend policies will also be tested. The report expects dividend distributions to remain substantial but potentially adjustable.
S&P’s analysis paints a picture of a market that is braced for impact but not yet broken. The fundamentals are stronger than they were in 2008, thanks to tighter regulations and well-capitalised developers with $10bn in combined cash reserves.
However, the market’s fate is now externally determined. If the conflict remains contained and short-lived, Dubai’s real estate sector should absorb the shock with manageable declines.
But if the war becomes a protracted regional crisis, the meaningful correction that S&P flags as a possibility will move from the realm of the theoretical to the probable, testing the resilience of both the developers and the regulatory framework designed to protect them.
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Saudi Energy pushes back deadlines for power projects
17 March 2026
Saudi Energy, formerly Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), has extended bid submission deadlines for three substation projects in Riyadh Province.
The utility has pushed back the deadline for the estimated $50m King Khalid International airport 132/13.8kV substation project to 9 April.
The contract was originally tendered in December, and the deadline had previously been extended to 9 March.
Local firms Al-Babtain Contracting and Al-Haider are understood to have prequalified to bid for the scheme.
The company has also extended the deadline for a $40m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a 132kV underground cable project in Al-Kharj, Riyadh Province.
The new bid submission date is 26 March.
The project covers the installation of underground cable circuits linking a proposed substation (S/S #8721) north of Al-Kharj to BSP #9028. The scope also includes associated civil works and infrastructure.
Prequalified bidders include Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works, Al-Babtain Contracting and Al-Haider, according to regional project tracker MEED Projects.
In addition, the utility has extended the deadline for a $50m contract to replace the existing 132/13.8kV substation (S/S #8044) with the new Al-Sharafiyah-2 substation (S/S #8407) in Riyadh.
The revised submission date is 9 April.
The scope includes construction of the new substation, installation of switchgear and conductors, and associated infrastructure works.
Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works, Al-Babtain Contracting and Al-Haider are expected to submit bids for the project.
Riyadh Expo substations
Separately, Saudi Energy is understood to be moving forward with procurement for a project to develop three 132/13.8kV substations in Riyadh to support Expo 2030.
The utility is said to have invited bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to deliver the three substations along with associated works to connect the facilities to the national grid.
The project forms part of wider infrastructure preparations for Expo 2030 Riyadh, scheduled to take place from October 2030 to March 2031
No bid submission deadline has been publicly disclosed.
Last September, Saudi Energy outlined plans to invest $58.7bn in power projects between 2025 and 2030.
This includes $36bn and $22.7bn for transmission and distribution, respectively, and is part of long-term plans to meet growing electricity demand while improving grid efficiency and reliability.
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Fujairah oil hub targeted in fresh drone strike
17 March 2026
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The Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) was hit by another drone attack early on 17 March, causing a fire, authorities in Fujairah said.
No injuries have been reported in the attack, and the emirate’s civil defence teams are dealing with the situation and trying to control the fire, the official Emirates News Agency (Wam) reported, citing the media office of the Government of Fujairah.
This is understood to be the fifth attack since the start of March that FOIZ has suffered from drone or debris resulting from interceptions by the UAE’s air defence systems, as Iran continues to hit energy and industrial facilities in the UAE.
Fujairah benefits from its strategic geopolitical location outside the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blockaded in its ongoing conflict with Israel and the US, choking about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies.
Consequently, oil prices have soared since the start of the conflict on 28 February. Global benchmark Brent broke the $100 mark on 9 March, for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, rising to a high of $119 a barrel on that day. Prices have dropped since, but it is still trading well above the $100 mark, with Brent recorded at $103.87 a barrel as of 12pm GST on 17 March.
Major midstream oil and gas companies operate key storage and export hubs for oil and refined products in Fujairah, including Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc Group), Saudi Aramco – through its subsidiary Aramco Trading – Vopak Horizon, VTTI, Shell, Fujairah Oil Terminal, Brooge Petroleum & Gas Investment Company (BPGIC), Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc), Ecomar, Mount Row and GPS Chemoil.
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Fujairah is crucial to the operations of Adnoc Group subsidiary Adnoc Onshore, which operates a main oil terminal (MOT) there. Located approximately 300 kilometres north of Abu Dhabi, the terminal facilitates the import and export of various crude oil grades, particularly Murban, from the company’s onshore and offshore fields.
Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (Adcop) connects milestone pole (MP) 21 at the Habshan oil facility in Abu Dhabi, where stabilised crude produced from Adnoc Onshore fields is gathered for dispatch, to the Fujairah MOT.
BPGIC is an oil storage and services firm that was established in 2013 in Fujairah and started operations with a capacity of 400,000 cubic metres spanning 14 tanks. In March 2022, it announced its intention to increase the storage capacity of four of those storage tanks in the first phase complex.
Separately, in September 2021, BPGIC began operations at the second phase of its Fujairah oil storage complex, adding 600,000 cubic metres of storage capacity across eight tanks. As a result of that expansion, BPGIC’s storage capacity more than doubled to 1 million cubic metres, or 6.3 million barrels, from 400,000 cubic metres.
BPGIC then undertook a third expansion phase of its oil storage facility, which is understood to have been commissioned in 2023.
The third phase increased BPGIC’s oil storage capacity by 3.5 times, raising it to 3.5 million cubic metres, or 22 million barrels, and making the firm the largest oil storage services provider in the UAE emirate of Fujairah.
The third-phase expansion project consists of an oil storage facility with a capacity of 2.5 million cubic metres, a modular 25,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) refinery, and a larger 180,000-b/d conventional refinery.
BPGIC also co-owns a topping refinery in Fujairah with Nigeria-based Sahara Energy Resources, which produces low-sulphur bunker fuel for ships and vessels. It is understood that the new naphtha upgradation unit could be integrated with the existing topping refinery unit.
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Oman signs $2bn real estate deals at Mipim 2026
17 March 2026
Oman has signed 17 international investment and development agreements worth over RO762m ($1.98bn) at the Mipim 2026 event held in Cannes, France.
The deals were concluded through the Ministry of Housing & Urban Planning (MHUP) and partners at the Oman pavilion, and span mixed-use real estate, healthcare, agri-investment and digital planning tools.
A key agreement was a memorandum of understanding with Turkiye’s Artas Holding for the Al-Khuwair Downtown project, with planned investments exceeding RO150m ($390m).
In Sultan Haitham City, an agreement was signed with Saudi Arabia’s Retal Development to develop neighbourhoods 3, 15 and 17, covering more than 1.39 million square metres, with a combined investment of over RO320m ($832m).
Other agreements include Vogue Homes Portugal investing more than RO25m ($65m) in the Al-Thuraya City project, and another residential scheme led by international firms including Avant Garde Properties, F&M International, Metrogramma and The One Atelier, with an investment of about RO50m ($130m).
MoHUP also signed agreements covering smart planning and project delivery, including advanced 3D digital modelling, with investment exceeding RO408,000 ($1m).
Healthcare-related agreements include a partnership between local Al-Daham Real Estate and Kubba to develop hospital and stem-cell treatment facilities, valued at RO11.5m ($30m), and a deal between local firm Al-Abrar Real Estate Group and Vienna Hospital & University to operate Ibn Al-Haitham Hospital in Sultan Haitham City, with an investment of more than RO40m ($104m).
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The programme also includes architectural and branding collaborations involving international firms such as Chapman Taylor Architects, 3DTouch Studio, Hawk & Impact Communication and Atelier Entropic, alongside luxury brands including Pagani, Armani and Elie Saab for branded residential concepts.
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Ashghal tenders northern Smaisma infrastructure
17 March 2026
Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has issued a tender covering infrastructure development in the northern Smaisma area.
The tender was floated on 14 March, with a bid submission closing date of 12 May.
The scope includes the airstrip road, coastal road and connections to the existing Al-Khor Expressway, spanning an area of about 18.5 kilometres.
The contract duration is four years from the start of construction works.
The latest tender follows Ashghal’s announcement of contract awards for 12 new projects, with a total value exceeding QR4.5bn ($1.2bn).
According to a notice published on its website, these include six building projects, most notably the redevelopment of Hamad General Hospital, with a contract value of about QR1.1bn ($301m).
The other projects awarded include the construction of a post office building in Al-Thumama, 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.
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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Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the March 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
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