Saudi Aramco signs E&C deals worth $4.5 B

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) — Saudi Aramco signed agreements on Thursday worth $4.5 B with firms from Europe, the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates for work on a range of oil and gas development projects, mostly aimed at boosting gas production.

Saudi Aramco is pushing ahead with energy projects that it has listed as a priority to keep the world well supplied with oil while meeting increased domestic demand for gas to fuel industrial growth.

By freeing up more oil for export, gas projects will increase supplies to energy utilities and as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Aramco has plans to double its gas output to 23 Bscfd.

Signing the deals at a public ceremony in Dhahran, Aramco did not give the value of each agreement.

Among the deals, Spanish engineering company Tecnicas Reunidas is to build gas compression plants for the Hawiyah and Haradh fields which will extend plateau production for both fields for the next 20 yr, Aramco said.

The project will boost gas production capacity by 1.3 Bscfd.

In related work Italy's Saipem has won a deal estimated to be worth around $700 MM to expand capacity at the Hawiyah gas processing plant, which is due to have a total capacity of 3.86 Bscfd by June 2021, when the new work is due to be completed.

Meanwhile, China Petroleum Pipelines has been contracted to lay 450 km of gas pipelines by early 2019 to take 290 MMscfd of gas from the Haradh field to the Hawiyah processing plant.

"This reflects our commitment to introducing new supplies of clean-burning natural gas. These new supplies will help reduce domestic reliance on liquid fuels for power generation, enable increased liquids exports, provide feedstock to petrochemical industries, and reduce carbon emissions," Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco said.

Reporting by Reem Shamseddine Editing by David Evans, Greg Mahlich

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