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.
Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.
Exclusive from Meed
-
Veolia wins Jordan water services contract18 February 2026
-
PIF-backed firm signs worker accommodation deal17 February 2026
-
KBR wins 10-year maintenance contract from Petro Rabigh17 February 2026
-
Bidders await NWC decision on sewage contract17 February 2026
-
Lamprell wins Dubai’s Margham gas plant expansion contract17 February 2026
All of this is only 1% of what MEED.com has to offer
Subscribe now and unlock all the 153,671 articles on MEED.com
- All the latest news, data, and market intelligence across MENA at your fingerprints
- First-hand updates and inside information on projects, clients and competitors that matter to you
- 20 years' archive of information, data, and news for you to access at your convenience
- Strategize to succeed and minimise risks with timely analysis of current and future market trends
Related Articles
-
Veolia wins Jordan water services contract
18 February 2026
Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access
France's Veolia has signed a four-year performance-based management contract with the Water Authority of Jordan to support water and wastewater services in the country’s northern governorates.
Under the contract, Veolia will provide operations, maintenance and management services to Yarmouk Water Company, the public utility responsible for water supply and wastewater services in the region.
The agreement covers Irbid, Jerash, Ajloun and Mafraq, an area spanning nearly 30,000 square kilometres and covering about 3 million people.
The scope includes water and wastewater operations, maintenance, billing and collection, and customer service.
According to the firm, the performance-based structure prioritises measurable improvements, including service delivery, cost efficiency and revenue management.
The company said it will deploy technical and management specialists to support operations, rehabilitation works and investment initiatives.
The contract builds on Veolia’s existing operational role in Jordan’s water sector. The company operates the Disi-Amman scheme, which supplies about 100 million cubic metres of drinking water a year, under an operations and maintenance contract.
It also operates the Al-Samra wastewater treatment plant, which produces about 133 million cubic metres of treated wastewater annually for agricultural reuse.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15684109/main0535.jpg -
PIF-backed firm signs worker accommodation deal
17 February 2026
Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access
Saudi Arabia's Smart Accommodation for Residential Complexes Company (Sarcc) has signed an agreement with Riyadh-based Mawref Company to develop a 12,000-bed worker accommodation project in North Riyadh.
The project will cover about 120,000 square metres (sq m), with a total built-up area of 150,000 sq m.
The development is expected to cost over SR669m ($178m), with the first phase slated for completion in 2029.
Sarcc is backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle.
The agreement follows Sarcc signing another agreement in September last year with privately-owned local firm Tamimi Global Company to explore collaboration in developing worker accommodation facilities in the kingdom.
The PIF launched Sarcc in October 2024 with the aim of developing and operating staff housing and accommodation assets in the kingdom.
Sarcc will develop and operate the staff accommodation facilities at major construction projects in Saudi Arabia.
The company will seek opportunities to invest in the sector to strengthen staff housing standards. Sarcc will also look to engage the private sector by enabling investment and partnership opportunities in sectors including construction, catering, transportation and retail.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15672262/main.gif -
KBR wins 10-year maintenance contract from Petro Rabigh
17 February 2026
Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access
Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Company (Petro Rabigh) has awarded US-based consultant KBR a 10-year contract to provide maintenance services covering the company’s polymer plants in Rabigh, on the kingdom’s Red Sea coast.
“This [contract award] marks a major step in Petro Rabigh’s transformation journey, supporting safer operations, stronger reliability and long-term improvement across its facilities,” Petro Rabigh said in , without providing further details.
Work on the operations and maintenance contract will be executed by KBR’s business line, which operates under the Houston-headquartered firm’s Technology Solutions portfolio, sources told MEED.
Prior to this contract, in March 2024, Petro Rabigh awarded KBR a similar five-year asset condition monitoring programme contract. As part of that job, KBR is to provide predictive maintenance services at Petro Rabigh’s main plant.
Petro Rabigh was originally established in 1989 as a basic topping refinery with crude oil processing facilities, located in Rabigh, 165 kilometres to the north of Jeddah in Mecca Province.
Saudi Aramco and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Company formed an equal joint venture in 2005 to transform the Petro Rabigh crude oil refining complex into an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex, with the strategic objective of expanding Saudi Arabia’s annual production capacity of refined products and petrochemicals.
Three years after the creation of the Petro Rabigh joint venture, the partners floated 25% of its shares in an initial public offering on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in 2008, following which Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical each held 37.5% shares in Petro Rabigh, with the remaining shares listing on the Tadawul.
In October last year, however, Aramco completed the acquisition of an additional 22.5% stake in Petro Rabigh from Sumitomo Chemical. Following the completion of the transaction, valued at $702m or SR7 a share, Aramco became the majority shareholder in Petro Rabigh, with an equity stake of 60%, while Sumitomo retains an interest of 15%. The remaining 25% shares of Petro Rabigh continue to trade on the Tadawul.
ALSO READ: Petro Rabigh and Indian firm to study joint project investment
Following the formation of the Petro Rabigh joint venture in 2005, Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical launched the expansion of the refining facility into an integrated refining and petrochemicals complex in 2006, investing $9.8bn in the project, 60% of which was secured through external financing. Engineering, procurement and construction works on phase one were completed in 2009, with the integrated downstream complex entering operations in November of that year.
The Petro Rabigh downstream complex consists of a topping refinery that has a 340,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) crude distillation unit, a 47,000 b/d hydrotreater, a 12 million cubic-feet-a-day hydrogen plant, a 75,000 b/d naphtha merox unit and a 60,000 b/d kerosene merox unit, along with supporting utilities, product tankage and a marine terminal.
Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical initiated Petro Rabigh’s phase two expansion project, valued at $8bn, in 2014. The second expansion phase was commissioned in 2018 and added 15 chemicals plants to the Petro Rabigh complex, raising the facility’s total production capacity to 18.4 million tonnes a year (t/y) of petroleum-based products.
The expansion also increased Petro Rabigh’s capacity to process an additional 30 million cubic feet a year of ethane into 2.4 million t/y of ethylene and propylene-based derivatives, and achieved a naphtha output of 3 million t/y.
Expansion of the main existing chemicals plant and the establishment of a clean fuels complex comprising polyether polyols, naphtha treating and sulphur recovery units were also part of the phase two project.
Photo credit: Petro Rabigh on LinkedIn
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15670196/main5008.jpg -
Bidders await NWC decision on sewage contract
17 February 2026
Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company (NWC) is evaluating five bids for package 12 of its long-term operations and maintenance (LTOM12) sewage treatment programme.
Known as the North Western B Cluster, LTOM12 forms part of the second phase of NWC’s rehabilitation of sewage treatment plants programme.
The contract covers the construction and upgrade of seven sewage treatment plants with a combined capacity of about 162,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).
As MEED understands, the companies that have submitted proposals include:
- Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies (Saudi Arabia)
- Civil Works Company (Saudi Arabia)
- Miahona (Saudi Arabia)
- Beijing Enterprises Water Group – BEWG (Hong Kong)
- Al-Yamama (Saudi Arabia)
Earlier this month, MEED exclusively reported that six contractors are competing for the North Western A Cluster Sewage Treatment Plants Package 11 (LTOM11), which has an estimated value of about $211m.
The project involves the construction and upgrade of two sewage treatment plants with a combined capacity of about 440,000 cm/d.
The scheme is being procured on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis with a long-term operations component.
It is understood that contracts for LTOM11 and LTOM12 will be awarded in May.
In January, a consortium of United Water (China), Prosus Energy (UAE) and Armada Holding (Saudi Arabia) won the main contract for the Northern Cluster Sewage Treatment Plants Package 10 (LTOM10).
This contract was the first to be awarded under the second phase of NWC’s rehabilitation of sewage treatment plants programme.
NWC previously awarded $2.7bn-worth of contracts for the first phase of its LTOM programme. This comprises nine packages covering the treatment of 4.6 million cm/d of sewage water for the next 15 years.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15670141/main.jpg -
Lamprell wins Dubai’s Margham gas plant expansion contract
17 February 2026
Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access
Dubai Petroleum has awarded Lamprell a contract for a project covering the expansion of the Margham gas storage and processing facility, which is operated by state-owned Dubai Supply Authority (Dusup).
Lamprell’s scope of work on the contract includes engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of civil works, pipe rack structures and associated infrastructure installation. Work on the contract will be delivered by Lamprell’s onshore division.
The contract awarded to Lamprell by Dubai government-owned Dubai Petroleum forms part of a wider project known as the Sunrise development programme. The aim of the scheme is “to support future capacity enhancements required to meet projected gas demand and the integration of renewable energy sources for end users across the [UAE],” Lamprell said in a statement.
Lamprell is primarily a contractor and services provider in the offshore oil and gas and wind energy sectors, with its main clients including Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and QatarEnergy. The company has operational bases in Dammam and Ras Al-Khair in Saudi Arabia, while its bases in the UAE are in Hamriyah in Sharjah and Jebeli Ali Free Zone in Dubai.
The company was previously listed on the London Stock Exchange, from where it delisted following a takeover offer from a consortium of Blofeld Investment Management and AlGihaz Holding for its Saudi Arabia business in 2022. AlGihaz Holding later took full ownership of Lamprell.
“Expanding our onshore EPC capability is a key pillar of Lamprell’s strategy, and this award directly supports that objective,” Ian Prescott, Lamprell’s CEO, said.
“We appreciate the confidence [Dubai Petroleum] has placed in Lamprell and look forward to working with our long-standing, valued client. Delivering critical energy infrastructure in the UAE strengthens our onshore portfolio, demonstrates local execution capability and positions the business for further growth in this market,” Prescott said.
The Margham gas field and associated processing plant are located on the Dubai-Hatta road. It is the largest gas field onshore Dubai. The field contains three gas-bearing geological formations more than 10,000 feet below the surface.
The Margham field came online in 1984 and has been developed with production and injection gas wells that are connected through a gathering system to the processing plant.
Initially, the gas was processed to remove water for disposal and condensate for sale and the dry gas was reinjected into the reservoir. At present, the dry gas is sent by pipeline to the Dubai gas grid.
The gas plant separates the heavier hydrocarbons components and formation water from the gas through a series of cooling, pressure reduction and phase separation steps.
The remaining gas stream, substantially free of liquid components, can be either flowed directly to the Dubai gas grid or compressed to a higher pressure if required.
The raw condensate is brought to product specification by further removal of water and stabilised by distillation. The stabilised condensate is moved by pipeline to Dubai’s main crude oil refinery at Jebel Ali.
The Margham field has functioned as a strategic gas storage facility for Dubai since 2008, with the ability to inject gas into the reservoir or produce gas to meet Dubai’s seasonal fuel gas requirements.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15669884/main.jpg