Saudi Aramco has signed 66 agreements with leading international service players and partners, which are together valued at about $21 billion.
The Saudi Arabian state-owned giant said on Tuesday that it has signed "multiple memoranda of understanding (MoU) and strategic and commercial collaborations” with international partner companies and entities from “11 countries in several industrial and business sectors”.
In addition, Aramco signed a joint venture agreement with oilfield services giant Baker Hughes to establish a non-metallic joint venture (NM JV), with both players holding equal stakes.
“The joint venture will be a multi-sectorial non-metallic investment platform designed to innovate, develop and manufacture composite materials for both oil and gas as well as non-oil and gas applications,” Aramco said.
The joint venture facility will be located at the King Salman Energy Park (SPARK), and will serve the Middle East region, it added.
Several leading companies in the region have signed MoU’s with Aramco on the sidelines of its fifth In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) conference in the country.
Some key players include Hyundai Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Schneider Electric and Honeywell. Several other international companies are also believed to have signed agreements with Aramco.
Aramco said that its IKTVA localisation programme “has attracted 468 investments from 25 countries with an estimated capital expenditure of $6.5 billion, resulting in 44 industrial facilities completed to-date, with another 64 facilities under construction".
Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said that the kingdom’s IKTVA programme “has created infrastructure, streamlined processes, and built capabilities that improve return on investment and leverage greater value for our company".