21. GS E&C
South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction (E&C)has very recently won a deal from the Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) for the construction of the Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LPIC) project’s third package. Orpic has tendered LPIC’s $688mn-worth EPC 3, which is the natural gas liquids extraction plant, post the foundation of the LPIC $2.8bn-worth EPC 1 steam cracker unit and $888mn EPC 2 polypropylene and polyethylene units last year in Sohar. GS Engineering is also the main contractor at the Rumaitha and Shanayel Fields Phase III development project in Abu Dhabi. GS E&C has been appointed by ADCO to build a massive crude oil processing plant at the site.
22. CB&I
Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I) has delivered a reasonably good financial performance in the first quarter of this year, attributed mostly to it work in the energy sector. The company earned a revenue of $2.4bn in Q1 2017. New contract awards for the first quarter were $3.3bn, as compared to $1.2bn in Q1 2016. The company’s backlog at the end of Q1 2017 was $19.3bn. “Each of our operating groups reported solid earnings for the quarter with the exception of Engineering & Construction, which was negatively impacted by underperformance on two union construction projects. Overall, new awards exceeded our expectations, indicating the rebound of opportunities in our end markets, specifically in the United States, Middle East and China,” Philip K Asherman, CB&I’s president and CEO commented.
23. Tecnicas Reunidas
Saudi Aramco in Q4 2016 awarded Spanish engineering and construction major Tecnicas Reunidas a contract – estimated to be between $1.5bn to $1.8bn in value – to build a clean fuels unit at its Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia. Tecnicas Reunidas has been working in Saudi Arabia since 2003 and has been involved in 10 refining, petrochemical and gas projects; the latest contract only affirms Aramco’s confidence in the contractor. The Spanish company made its mark in the regional oil and gas sector in 2015, when it was awarded a $700mn contract by the Abu Dhabi Gas Industries (GASCO) for the construction of the Integrated Gas Development Expansion Project Package 3 in Abu Dhabi. This project is part of the ADNOC programme to produce 400mn cubic feet of additional gas from its offshore fields.
24. Faithful+Gould
British project construction company Faithful+Gould aims to achieve approximately 30% of its Middle East revenue through industry-related activities by 2019. The Middle East managing director Campbell Gray in an interview to Construction Week said this objective was in keeping with the consultancy’s broader strategy to increase its non-property operations in the region. Faithful+Gould’s Middle East MD went on to say that his firm was working to increase its industry-related footprint across the region. The shift is designed to guard against potential vulnerability to market fluctuations. “We’re currently diversifying into industry, with energy representing our prime focus. I would like to see industry account for approximately 30% of Faithful+Gould’s Middle East revenue by 2019,” Gray said.
25. Jacobs
American EPC contractor Jacobs Engineering has made a major leap in its operations in the Middle East recently, with the signing of a strategic joint venture agreement with Saudi Aramco. The agreement, one of many that Aramco signed during the Saudi-US CEO Forum event in May, calls for creating a new joint venture to provide programme and construction management services; to elevate project execution and job creation throughout Saudi Arabia and across the region. The Saudi Arabia-based joint venture company will provide professional programme and construction management (PMCM) services for building and infrastructure projects in the Kingdom. The parties also agreed to form a joint venture to provide PMCM services in the Middle East and North Africa region. The agreement will create 3,000 jobs in the kingdom.
