meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Tabuk steel factory to start operations in 2024

13 November 2023

 

Register for MEED's guest programme 

MS-Metals is building a fully computerised and automated factory for metal solutions in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Construction work has already started, and the factory is expected to be operational by March 2024.

The plant aims to capitalise on the growth of Saudi Arabia’s construction projects market, which registered $10.3bn in contract awards in the first half of 2023 and is on course for an all-time record by the end of the year. As well as the total value of contract awards rising, the increase in the scale and complexity of projects such as Neom has spurred innovation in the manufacturing construction sector.

The total area of the planned MS-Metals plant is 33,400 square metres (sq m). It has 13,500 sq m of production facilities and 12 assembly lines to serve its product range.

Once operational, the factory will supply light gauge steel (LGS) structures for modular and prefabricated buildings, bathroom and kitchen pods and containerised modular units for construction projects in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region.

Using a manufacturing method known as computer numerical control, the Tabuk-based factory will use preprogrammed software to automate its machines.

“This facility will mark a milestone in Saudi Arabia,” company representatives told MEED. “It boasts fully computerised production lines, ensuring faster and more efficient production and assembly.”

“MS-Metals has employed a comprehensive automation strategy in its upcoming factory, featuring 12 guided production lines, including the LGS section and the production machines for roofing and side bending, all fully computerised."

Strategic location

The surge in project activity in the kingdom, together with rising demand, has incentivised manufacturers and suppliers to focus on efficient delivery, especially given the challenges posed by the high costs of materials and transportation.

The manufacturer emphasises the potential for contemporary metal solutions, including LGS buildings and modular construction, within Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia presents a huge opportunity for modern metal solutions,” says MS-Metals. “Since fulfilling the kingdom's ambitious construction plans will require vast resources, proximity to the projects will be instrumental in saving time, costs and resources."

The upcoming factory is strategically situated within 180 kilometres (km) of all the Neom projects and is 480km from the Red Sea Project.

This location enables MS-Metals to ensure a stable and timely supply for ongoing and future projects, the manufacturer says.

“The economic boom in the kingdom has prompted several upcoming projects to be located in close proximity to the Tabuk area, which works to the advantage of MS-Metals. This factory is strategically situated close to key gigaprojects such as Neom, Amaala and the Red Sea Project, creating a highly efficient and cost-effective supply chain for construction materials.”

“One of the primary benefits is the capability to offer same-day deliveries to projects such as Neom, The Line, Trojena, Oxagon, Amaala, the Red Sea Project and Al-Ula.

“Additionally, products such as bathroom and kitchen pods, which are not readily available in Saudi Arabia and are typically imported, will now be manufactured and assembled closer to the projects. This shift will help our clients to reduce costs and decrease their dependence on imports.”

Off-site construction

The manufacturer will produce prefabricated modules in its factory and assemble them on site.

MS-Metals emphasises the advantages of this approach, saying: “By using off-site fabrication and advanced assembly techniques, we will offer the fastest production and delivery times for the gigaprojects.

“Our factory will also have the unique capability to construct light gauge warehouses reaching up to 30 metres in width, a feat that is unheard of in the Middle East.”

According to the firm, this factory will also be the only facility in the kingdom with the capacity to construct modular and LGS buildings with up to five storeys.

MS-Metals is a subsidiary of the UAE-based ARCCO Group of Companies that supplies complex infrastructure development, integrated logistics solutions and oversight to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries. ARCCO Group has been catering to the UAE construction industry since 1994. The group has eight subsidiaries across the GCC.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11292400/main5307.jpg
Sarah Rizvi

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • AtkinsRealis confirms Sphere Abu Dhabi role

    4 August 2026

    AtkinsRealis has confirmed it has been appointed lead design and supervision consultant on the $1.7bn Sphere Abu Dhabi project on Yas Island.

    The Canadian engineering and project management firm said it will partner with local firm Alec Engineering & Contracting on the venue, which is scheduled to open in 2029.

    AtkinsRealis will be responsible for overall design coordination across architecture, structural engineering and specialist immersive technologies. Alec – appointed by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture & Tourism (DCT Abu Dhabi) – will oversee procurement, construction delivery and project completion.

    The project is being delivered under a design-and-build framework.

    Alec Holdings confirmed in May that its subsidiary, Alec Engineering & Contracting, had received a letter of award for the construction contract. MEED previously reported that Alec was the selected contractor and had been working on the project during the pre-construction phase.

    Sphere Abu Dhabi will be built on Yas Island on a plot between Yas Mall and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi. It will be the first Sphere venue outside the US and is expected to echo the scale of Sphere Las Vegas, with a capacity of up to 20,000, depending on configuration.

    The venue will feature a fully programmable LED exosphere and a wraparound interior display capable of delivering 16K-resolution visuals, alongside beamforming audio technology that can direct sound to individual seats.

    DCT Abu Dhabi is developing Sphere Abu Dhabi with US-based Sphere Entertainment.

    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:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18079715/main.jpg
    Colin Foreman
  • Opec+ agrees sixth straight month of oil output hikes

    3 August 2026

    Opec+ has approved an oil production quota increase of around 188,000 barrels a day (b/d) from September, completing the unwinding of a layer of voluntary output cuts by its main member countries.

    Due to export disruptions from the Gulf, Russia and Kazakhstan caused by the Iran and Ukraine wars, successive monthly Opec+ output hikes over most of this year have remained largely on paper, with little impact on the market.

    The September increase agreed by core Opec+ members – Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman – at a meeting on 2 August completes the phased rollback of a 1.65 million b/d supply cut originally agreed in 2023, when the group still included the UAE, which left Opec in May.

    A separate Opec+ meeting of a panel called the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee also met on 2 August and reiterated concern about attacks on energy assets during the US-Israeli war on Iran, saying they are expensive and time-consuming to repair and therefore can affect supply.

    With September’s output hike now agreed, Opec+ still has one more layer of output cuts in place that applies to most of the group’s members. These roughly 2 million b/d of cuts date back to 2022 and are due to remain in place until the end of this year.

    Opec+ is carrying out a review of its members’ oil production capacity that will be used to set the 2027 output baselines from which quotas are calculated.

    It faces potentially difficult talks over new production quotas, with some members, including Iraq, pushing for higher individual quotas to reflect their higher capacity.

    Opec+ is an alliance of 21 countries, comprising members of Opec along with a group of 10 non-Opec states led by Russia.

    In recent years, only the seven core countries – and the UAE until its departure – have been involved in monthly production management.

    The seven members will hold their next meeting on 6 September.

    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:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18043979/main4234.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Dewa opens bids for MBR Solar Park phase seven

    3 August 2026

     

    Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has opened bids for the seventh phase of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park.

    According to a source, technical and financial offers were opened last month. The utility received bids on 1 July. 

    Phase seven will add 2,000MW from photovoltaic solar panels and include a 1,400MW battery energy storage system (bess) with a six-hour capacity, providing a total storage capacity of 8,400 megawatt-hours. 

    It is understood that Saudi Arabia’s Acwa, the UAE’s Etihad Water & Electricity and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) are among the companies that submitted bids for the project.

    The winning bidder “is likely” to come from one of those three, a source told MEED.

    As MEED understands, the previously prequalified Electricite de France did not submit a bid for the project.

    Dewa completed the prequalification process for the latest phase of the world’s largest single-site solar park in 2025. 

    As previously reported, 47 firms submitted their responses to Dewa’s expression of interest request for the contract in March 2025. The main tender was issued last November.

    The following companies were among those prequalified to submit main contract bids on the project:

    • Acwa (Saudi Arabia) 
    • Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar)
    • Electricite de France (EDF)
    • Etihad Water & Electricity (EtihadWE)
    • China Machinery Engineering Corporation
    • China Construction Eighth Engineering Division
    • Power China
    • Larsen & Toubro (India)
    • Shanghai Electric Group

    The transaction advisory team for the project comprises UK-headquartered Deloitte and US-based CMS and Sargent & Lundy as financial, legal and technical advisers, with Deloitte acting as lead adviser. 

    Meanwhile, construction on the 1,800MW sixth phase of the MBR Solar Park is nearing completion, with commissioning expected by the end of the third quarter.

    Dewa and Masdar reached financial close for the $1.5bn project in 2024. Once completed, the sixth phase will increase the solar park’s total production capacity to 4,660MW.

    Dewa increased its flagship solar project’s 2030 installed capacity target by 45% in 2025, from 5,000MW to 7,260MW. This comprises a total investment of AED50bn ($13.6bn).

    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:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18031819/main0723.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Three groups bid for $5bn Asir-Jizan highway

    3 August 2026

     

    Three groups have submitted bids for an estimated SR20bn ($5bn) contract to develop and operate the Asir-Jizan highway project on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

    According to sources close to the project, the consortiums that bid are:

    • Lamar Holding (local) / Shaanxi Construction Engineering (China) / Safari (local)
    • Vision Invest (local) / China Harbour Engineering Company (China)
    • Plenary (Australia) / Alayuni (local) / Limak Holding (Turkey) / Nesma & Partners (local)

    Saudi Arabia’s Roads General Authority, the National Centre for Privatisation & PPP and the Aseer Development Authority (Asda) are the government agencies managing the tender and project.

    The 136-kilometre Asir-Jizan highway will have three lanes in each direction and include six intersections, 57 bridges totalling 18km and 11 tunnels totalling 9km.

    The project is one of four planned highway schemes in the kingdom’s privatisation and public-private partnership pipeline.

    The route begins in Al-Farah in Asir and extends to the Red Sea through Jizan.

    The 30-year contract will follow a design, build, finance, operate and maintain model.

    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:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18031383/main1110.jpg
    Colin Foreman
  • Adnoc Onshore extends bid deadline for field facilities project

    3 August 2026

     

    Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s onshore business (Adnoc Onshore) has given contractors extra time to prepare bids for a project to build on-plot and off-plot facilities at the Rumaitha and Shanayel fields, part of the Northeast Bab cluster of oil fields in Abu Dhabi.

    The project aims to enhance and sustain oil production at the Rumaitha and Shanayel fields at a rate of 45,000 barrels a day (b/d). It forms part of Adnoc Onshore’s contribution to parent company Adnoc Group’s broader objective of increasing oil production capacity to 5 million b/d by 2027 through its Accelerated Integrated Programme 5 (AiP5). Adnoc Group currently has a production capacity of 4.85 million b/d.

    Adnoc Onshore issued the main tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works package for the Rumaitha and Shanayel on-plot and off-plot facilities project on 19 June, MEED previously reported.

    The project operator has now extended the deadline for contractors to submit technical bids to 5 August, from 2 August previously, according to sources. The prior deadline had been 30 July.

    Adnoc Onshore issued the expression of interest for the Rumaitha and Shanayel on-plot and off-plot facilities project in early December, with contractors submitting their responses later that month, MEED previously reported.

    The prequalification and ongoing tendering process is understood to result from Adnoc Onshore revising its strategy for executing EPC works on an earlier, larger project covering the Northeast Bab cluster, which comprises the Al-Nouf, Rumaitha and Shanayel fields.

    MEED reported in December that Adnoc Onshore had cancelled the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) phase it launched in 2024 for the Northeast Bab on-plot and off-plot facilities project in favour of executing the scheme under a conventional EPC model.

    The operator awarded a contract to state-owned China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC) to carry out EPCm services for the Northeast Bab off-plot facilities package in October 2024. However, the contract was subsequently cancelled last year.

    Separately, Adnoc Onshore received bids during the second quarter of 2025 for the EPCm tender covering the Northeast Bab on-plot facilities package, but that procurement process was also later cancelled.

    Project scope of work

    The detailed scope of work on the Rumaitha and Shanayel on-plot and off-plot facilities project is as follows:

    On-plot facilities:

    • Oil train: One new oil train with slug catcher, two-stage separation, desalting, exchangers for crude heating and stabilisation, and all associated interconnections, utilities and civil/structural works, etc.
    • Produced water treatment (PWT): New produced water treatment package to enable 100% produced water reinjection (PWRI), including chemical dosing, tanks, pumps, all associated controls and blending with aquifer water, etc.
    • Water injection system: New water injection system, including surface water injection pumps, necessary connections and controls from produced water systems, headers, chemical dosing, power and controls, etc.
    • Gas handling and export:
      • Low-pressure gas compression system
      • Medium-pressure gas compression system
      • Gas dehydration and regeneration system
      • Export gas compression system
    • Utilities and offsites: Plant air and instrument air systems, nitrogen generation system, potable water system, vapour recovery system (liquid ejector package), fuel gas import and distribution, closed and open drain systems, hot oil heater, snuffing nitrogen package, enclosed ground flare systems (high-pressure and tank flares), etc.
    • Modifications in existing systems, including, but not limited to, installation of a slug catcher at phase-I, connectivity of gas systems, water systems, existing high-pressure compressors modifications, etc
    • Electrical, instrumentation and control, and safety: Electrical systems, instrumentation and control system (ICSS, F&G system, field instrumentation, HIPPS, etc.), substation and ITR room building, fire water system, etc.
    • Overhead line (220 kV): Installation and extension of overhead lines and 220 KV GIS compound or equivalent power distribution solutions to the central processing plant and other designated areas, as necessary.

    Off-plot facilities:

    • New gas-lifted oil producers and water injectors installation with necessary piping, controls, etc. and their connections to the new or existing clusters and pipeline networks
    • New clusters with facilities such as control panels, ITR, production and test manifolds, headers, chemical injection skids, multiphase flow meters, closed drain systems, HIPPS valves, WHCPs, pig traps, ICSS/telecom extensions, etc.
    • Modifications in existing clusters, including the addition or extension of manifolds, headers, additional pipelines with pig traps, ICSS/telecom extensions, chemical injection kids, etc.
    • Gathering and injection networks: Construction of new and modified oil gathering and water injection trunklines/laterals, pigging facilities (launchers/receivers), valve stations, block valves, corrosion protection and monitoring, and all associated equipment, etc.
    • Export gas pipelines and Adnoc Gas interface: Provision for export gas pipeline and facilities from Rumaitha central processing plant to new manifold station and from NMS to Adnoc Gas, including isolation/blowdown, etc.
    • Overhead line: Installation and extension of 33kV overhead lines to clusters, etc., as required.

    The tendering exercise for the Rumaitha and Shanayel on-plot and off-plot facilities project is taking place as Adnoc Onshore continues to make progress with EPC works on another, similar project to build off-plot facilities at the Southeast cluster of oil fields in Abu Dhabi, which is also integral to Adnoc Group’s AiP5 campaign.

    The Southeast cluster comprises the Asab, Mender, Qusahwira, Sahil and Shah fields and accounts for approximately a third of Adnoc Onshore’s oil production capacity.

    MEED previously reported that Adnoc Onshore had awarded EPC works on the Southeast off-plot facilities project to state-owned China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC), with the value of the contract estimated to be around $1.2bn.

    The overall scope of work on the Southeast off-plot facilities project includes tying in more than 150 wells across the area’s fields, upgrading remote and central degassing stations, laying more than 270 kilometres of flowlines, digitising wells for remote monitoring, and implementing artificial intelligence-driven telemetry technologies.

    MEED also recently reported that CPECC awarded subcontracts on the Southeast off-plot facilities project, in its capacity as the main EPC contractor.

    The off-plot facilities project is a component of the overall $2bn-$3bn South East AIP5 development, with the on-plot facilities project forming the other part of the programme.

    CPECC is also performing EPC works on the Southeast on-plot facilities project in a consortium with Greece-headquartered Archirodon. Adnoc Onshore awarded an estimated $1.5bn contract for that project to the consortium in December 2024, with EPC works scheduled for completion in 2027.

    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:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18022436/main2622.jpg
    Indrajit Sen