ALKHOBAR: Tecnicas Reunidas has offered the lowest bids to build two gas projects which are planned by Saudi Aramco, sources familiar with the plans said on Monday.
While the Spanish engineering firm has made the lowest bids on the Haradh and Hawiyah gas compression stations and the Hawiyah gas plant, Italy’s Saipem and Samsung E&C are also well placed to win the Hawiyah gas plant work, they said.
The new gas compression plants and the expansion of the Hawiyah gas plant are expected to cost more than $4 billion, industry sources have estimated.
Saudi Aramco does not comment on its business transactions, it said in response to an emailed request for comment.
Tecnicas Reunidas declined to comment, while Saipem had no comment and a spokesman for Samsung Engineering said it had no new information on the
bidding progress.
“We expect results to be announced (at the) beginning of November,” he said.
Hawiyah and Haradh are part of Ghawar, the world’s largest onshore oilfield.
Gas will play a key role in the diversified energy mix which Saudi Arabia is keen to achieve by cutting the use of crude oil and liquids for power generation, while allocating more gas to fuel economic growth and industrialization.
The Kingdom is targeting raising the use of gas in its energy mix to 70 percent, officials have said.
Despite falling oil prices, Saudi Aramco is pushing ahead with oil and gas projects that it has highlighted as a priority for the long term to keep the world well supplied with oil, while meeting domestic gas demand.
It plans to nearly double gas production to 23 billion standard cubic feet a day in the next decade.
Spanish company leads bidding for Aramco gas projects
Spanish company leads bidding for Aramco gas projects
Oman’s trade surplus narrows to $12bn as exports decline
RIYADH: Oman’s trade surplus narrowed to 4.69 billion rials ($11.9 billion) by the end of October as weaker oil and gas shipments weighed on exports, even as imports rose, according to official data.
The surplus compares with 7.31 billion rials in the same period of 2024, the Oman News Agency reported, citing preliminary figures from the National Centre for Statistics and Information. Total merchandise exports fell 8 percent year on year to 19.3 billion rials, while imports increased 6.8 percent to 14.6 billion rials.
This comes as Fitch Ratings last month upgraded Oman to investment-grade status, raising its long-term foreign-currency rating from BB+ to BBB-, citing stronger public finances, an improved external position, and a continued commitment to prudent fiscal management.
The agency noted that Oman has successfully strengthened fiscal discipline, reducing government debt to around 36 percent of gross domestic product in 2025, down from about 68 percent in 2020.
“The decline in the value of Oman’s merchandise exports is primarily attributed to a decrease in the value of oil and gas exports, which reached 12.1 billion rials by the end of October 2025, a 16.3 percent decrease compared to 14.4 billion rials at the end of October 2024,” the ONA report stated.
It added: “Conversely, the value of Oman’s non-oil merchandise exports increased by 9.9 percent, reaching 5.61 billion rials by the end of October 2025, compared to 5.1 billion rials during the same period in 2024.”
The value of re-exports also increased, reaching 1.6 billion rials by the end of October, up 11.6 percent year on year.
The UAE was the leading destination for Oman’s non-oil exports, with shipments valued at 1.07 billion rials, marking a 27.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024.
The UAE also topped the list for re-exports, at 532 million rials, and for exports to Oman, at 3.49 billion rials.
Saudi Arabia ranked second among destinations for Oman’s non-oil exports, with a value of 920 million rials, followed by India at 597 million rials.
In re-exports, Iran ranked second with 324 million rials, followed by the UK with 179 million rials.
On the import side, China ranked second, with imports valued at 1.55 billion rials, followed by Kuwait at 1.25 billion rials.
