DAMMAM: Saudi Aramco plans to raise its spending to $414 billion over the next 10 years, including on infrastructure and drilling, as the state oil giant moves into new businesses, executives said.
The spending plan is higher than Aramco’s projection last year of around $334 billion by 2025, as the oil producer has been expanding its businesses, the company’s chief executive Amin Nasser said on Tuesday.
“We are into so many sectors now,” Nasser told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference aimed at promoting the Kingdom’s industrial base and the manufacture of a bigger share of products domestically.
Saudi Aramco’s plan includes $134 billion to spend on drilling and well services and $78 billion to maintain oil output potential, Nassir Al-Yami, general manager for procurement, told a conference in Dammam.
Aramco has already created a department for renewables to develop wind and solar projects and last month it signed a preliminary deal with petrochemical producer Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) to build a $20 billion complex to convert crude oil to chemicals.
The project, which the partners said would be the largest crude-to-chemicals facility in the world and the first in the Kingdom, is part of the Saudi government’s effort to diversify the economy beyond exporting crude.
The Vision 2030 economic reform plan aims at ending its reliance on oil and to stimulate the domestic non-oil private sector. Its centerpiece is a plan to sell up to 5 percent of Aramco in an initial public offering (IPO) next year.
Saudi Aramco outlined a plan known as In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) two years ago, aimed at doubling the percentage of locally produced energy-related goods and services to 70 percent of the total spent by 2021.
“Saudi Aramco is expected to spend more than 1 trillion Saudi riyals over the next decade. That has not changed, and we still want to see 70 percent of those riyals being spent locally,” Nasser said.
Supporting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a main part of the IKTVA drive and Saudi Vision 2030, which would help create over 40,000 jobs and could add around SR30 billion to the Kingdom’s annual GDP, Nasser said.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) said in October it is creating a SR4 billion ($1.07 billion) “fund of funds” to support SMEs.
On Tuesday, Saudi Aramco signed 13 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) worth around SR6.3 billion with local and foreign companies as part a drive to expand the Kingdom’s industrial base and manufacture a bigger share of products domestically.
The MoUs signed were with companies such as China’s Sinopec, Dalma Gulf Drilling Co. and National Petroleum Technology.
Other agreements signed were part of the Kingdom’s plan to support the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
— REUTERS
Aramco lifts spending plans to $414bn over next decade
Aramco lifts spending plans to $414bn over next decade
Saudi PIF-backed Humain awards AI data center project to MIS
RIYADH: Humain, an artificial intelligence company backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has awarded Al Moammar Information Systems Co. a contract to design and build a data center dedicated to AI technologies.
In a filing to Tadawul, MIS said the project’s value exceeds 155 percent of its total revenues for 2024. The company reported revenues of SR1.21 billion ($320 million) last year, implying a contract value of nearly SR1.88 billion.
The development aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program, which aims to position the Kingdom as a regional technology hub by the end of the decade.
The contract is expected to be signed on Feb. 15, 2026, and does not involve any related parties, according to the statement. MIS will design and construct a private AI-focused data center for Humain.
Earlier this month, Saudi Telecom Co. signed an agreement with Humain to launch a joint venture to develop and operate data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence in the Kingdom.
According to a Tadawul filing, Humain will hold a 51 percent stake in the joint venture, while stc will own the remaining 49 percent.
The data center will be developed through stc’s subsidiary Digital Data and Communications Centers, also known as center3.
The facility will feature advanced infrastructure capable of supporting up to 1 gigawatt of power, starting with an initial capacity of 250 megawatts, subject to customer demand.
Saudi Arabia has been ramping up its AI ambitions. Earlier this month, the Saudi Press Agency, citing the Global AI Index, said the Kingdom ranked fifth globally and first in the Arab region for growth in the AI sector.
The report said the ranking reflects the Kingdom’s progress in artificial intelligence and the success of its economic diversification strategy under Vision 2030.
Separately, MIS said on Dec. 24 that it signed a SR114.43 million contract with the Saudi Central Bank to renew IT systems support licenses. The 36-month agreement covers license renewals and ongoing support, with the financial impact expected to be reflected in the company’s fourth-quarter results.
