The company’s strategy in grouping companies into a five-year framework arrangement is to “ensure critical infrastructure for ongoing energy, chemicals and resources supply for the domestic market in … Saudi Arabia as well as global markets,” Worley said in a statement released July 7. 

The framework arrangement will pair multinational firms with Saudi companies, with the local firms designated to perform general engineering services and related work, and international companies meeting Saudi Aramco localization goals.

Worley said its five-year agreement “is intended to support Aramco’s extensive capital program, one of the largest sources of project investment globally, across energy, chemicals and resources sectors.”

The Australian-based company said it would “provide project management consultant services, including engineering and design, project development studies, detailed engineering, procurement support, project and construction management, and technical expertise.” It also noted support to build capability for local talent.

Worley said it will also leverage its digital capabilities, to include “artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, robotics and automation, and smart energy solutions, to improve engineering delivery efficiency” to meet Saudi Aramco engineering and information security standards.”

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In a statement, Texas-based McDermott said its agreement, through its McDermott Nederland B.V. unit, will support delivery of large-scale energy, downstream, petrochemical and low-carbon projects across Saudi Arabia, providing engineering, front-end development and project management services.

The deal also establishes a strategic partnership between McDermott and Saudi-based Fayez Engineering, which the U.S. firm describes as a Saudi Aramco-approved contractor with strong local execution capabilities.

According to Fluor, its contract would support Saudi Aramco’s global capital projects portfolio and allow efficient deployment of global expertise, as well as local workforce and digital project delivery capabilities. 

Scotland-based Wood, acquired last year by Dubai engineering firm Sidara, said its five-year agreement carried an option to extend for another three years. The company said it has partnered with Saudi Aramco for more than 30 years and, in 2024, won a major engineering services contract for the energy firm’s southern and northern areas gas increment project, which is designed to boost national gas production. 

“This agreement ... reflects our long-term commitment to supporting Aramco’s energy portfolio,”  said Nick Shorten, Wood executive president of projects. The firm said it has about 900 employees in the country.

Saudi Aramco has not disclosed an estimated dollar amount that long-term framework agreements with the 11 contractors would cost, but online research suggests that the global capital program, including investments across upstream, downstream, gas expansion and chemicals, could reach somewhere between $230 billion and $260 billion over the course of the five-year timeframes

Other consultants named in media reports as contract awardees include Engineers India, Spain-based IDOM, Dallas-based KBR, UAE-based Kent, China's Sinopec Nanjing Engineering Co., France’s Technip Energies and Spain-based Tecnicas Reunidas