DHAHRAN: Indian manufacturers and suppliers could be big winners as a Saudi Aramco procurement subsidiary opens an office in a growing industrial city near New Delhi.

The office, operated by the Netherlands-based Aramco Overseas Co. (AOC) headquartered in The Hague, will make it easier for Indian manufacturers and suppliers to provide materials and equipment to Saudi Aramco for use in its industrial facilities and massive construction projects.

AOC employees fulfill procurement requests from the Saudi oil giant and ensure suppliers meet the company’s exacting machinery and construction standards that are among the most stringent in the energy and construction industries.

“Saudi Aramco maintains the highest standards in construction,” Ahmed M. Alzayyat, AOC’s managing director, said during the inauguration of the new office in Gurgaon, 24 km from New Delhi.

“This office will allow us to identify and assess manufacturer capability and performance, concentrating on material supply for the company’s strategic commodities and detailing the steps that potential partners need to take to qualify as a supplier.”

Providing materials for Saudi Aramco mega-projects, with price-tags in the hundreds of millions of dollars, could significantly boost Indian exports to Saudi Arabia.

“India is currently the fifth-largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia and is the fourth largest market for Saudi exports,” India’s ambassador to the Kingdom, Talmiz Ahmad, said during the Republic Day message in Riyadh on Tuesday.

“The strong Indo-Saudi economic ties are reflected in the steady growth of bilateral trade, which reached $23 billion in 2008, and the visit of several business delegations during recent months,” he said. “Saudi Arabia continues to play an important role in India’s energy security, being the source of 25 percent of our oil imports. The unprecedented growth in Indian investment in Saudi Arabia over the recent years, having exceeded $2 billion, highlights our substantial economic ties,” said Ahmad.

Saudi Aramco’s move to open the new office may also expand work for Indian engineering companies. “The subcontinent’s proximity to the Arabian Peninsula gives Indian companies the chance to play a major role in Saudi Aramco’s continued capital developments and in-Kingdom landmark projects by supplying not only materials and equipment but also knowledge and technology,” said Munir M. Al-Rafie, Saudi Aramco’s vice president for material supply.

“I am confident that this office will allow us to further strengthen the bonds of cooperation already established and identify new ones,” Abdul Rahman F. Al-Wuhaib, Saudi Aramco’s senior vice president of operations services, said during the ceremony.

“Taking into consideration India’s phenomenal economic growth and development, both India and Saudi Arabia — the world’s largest supplier of energy — are movers and shapers of trends that will determine the world’s future energy outlook.”

Al-Wuhaib also referred to India being one of Saudi Arabia’s most important trading partners and to the positive contributions of talented Indian nationals living and working in the Kingdom.

The inauguration was attended by Saudi ambassador to New Delhi, Faisal Hassan Al-Trad. Fawzi S. Al-Habib has been appointed as AOC’s chief representative at the new office. AOC also has offices in Rome, London, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo.