Page 11 - MEOG Week 43 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Baker Hughes breaks

ground on new regional hub

SAUDI ARABIA US services specialist Baker Hughes this week ventures are being developed to promote local
broke ground on its new regional oilfield services energy services and innovation.
hub at the King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) in The former facility, located up the coast from
Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. Aramco’s major downstream hubs at Ras Tanura
Baker Hughes said that the 300,000 square and Jubail, and will include units for rig and
metre facility would support the company’s oil- shipbuilding with partners including Hyundai,
field service operations and customers through- Lamprell, McDermott and the national shipping
out the Middle East. More than 600 employees firm Bahri.
will be based there, 70% of which are to be Saudi Meanwhile, SPARK is pegged as an “energy
nationals, with 120 of the jobs to be newly cre- city megaproject which will position Saudi
ated by the time the hub opens in late 2022. Arabia as a global energy, industrial and tech-
SPARK is being developed in Saudi’s East- nology hub” with the first phase of development
ern Province, just to the east of Abqaiq, which planned for next year with 15 companies having
is home to an oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) signed deals to invest.
plant which handles up to 7mn barrels per day. The development comes amid a push from
The move follows the announcement by Riyadh to create jobs and turn the capital into
Riyadh in February that companies must relo- one of the world’s top 10 city economies. Mean-
cate their regional headquarters to Saudi Arabia while, Aramco has been pushing local content
by January 1, 2024 if they want to continue hav- through various significant initiatives, of which
ing access to government contracts. the in-Kingdom total value-add (iktva) is the
An official source told the Saudi Press Agency most important, and forms a major part of its
at the time that once the policy is implemented, commitment to Saudi Vision 2030.
Riyadh will cease contracting with companies Speaking during the inauguration cere-
primarily based elsewhere in the region, with the mony, which was also attended by Ahmad Al
legislation applying to those working with Saudi Sa’adi, Aramco’s senior vice president of tech-
agencies, institutions and government-owned nical services, Baker Hughes’ chairman and
funds. CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said: “Baker Hughes is
With many energy companies having built a committed to supporting Saudi Vision 2030 and
Gulf base in the UAE, the move will represent a Aramco’s iktva programme. These programmes
clear challenge to the Emirates’ domination of drive localisation through job creation, supply
foreign direct investment (FDI) as the Kingdom chain development and export enablement, and
seeks to knock it the from top spot. further emphasise Saudi Arabia’s position as a
That being said, Saudi Aramco already global energy hub.”
requires strict compliance with local content He later took to LinkedIn to add: “There is
from all foreign partners and the company is no future scenario in which hydrocarbons dis-
building out the King Salman Global Maritime appear, and they will remain important to the
Industries Complex at Ras Al Khair and as well energy mix as we transform our core operations
as SPARK, all in Eastern Province, where joint to support a net-zero future.”™

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