MILAN, Italy, 24 September 2005 — Reinforcing Saudi Arabia’s commitment to global energy stability on the Kingdom’s National Day, the chief executive officers of several of the world’s top engineering companies renewed their pledges to work together to get three critical Saudi Aramco megaprojects finished as quickly as possible.
The top men from subsidiaries of General Electric, General Dynamics and the engineering firms of Snamprogetti, Bechtel/Technip, JGC, Yokogawa and Technicas Reunidas brought teams of engineers with them to Milan to meet with Saudi Aramco executive management to discuss progress on schedules, material procurement and Saudization targets as well as ways to save time and money on oil-processing and gas facilities either under construction or in the engineering phase.
“These programs are critical when the whole world is counting on us,” said Ali Al-Ajmi, Saudi Aramco’s vice president of project management.
The projects involving Hawiyah, Khursaniyah and Ju’aymah processing facilities are progressing at an incredible pace. Together, the costs run more than $1 billion and will involve thousands of workers during their construction phases.
“After I heard the CEOs speaking, it touched my heart, and I have great confidence that we will overcome whatever obstacles we encounter together,” said Salim Al-Aydh, a Saudi Aramco senior vice president, encouraging the CEOs to take a long view when it came to their associations with Saudi Arabia and that helping the private sector of the entire region would prove to be a great benefit both for them and the Kingdom in the future.
An emphasis also is being placed on increasing Saudization and private-sector involvement-key components of the Kingdom’s industrialization plans.
“Saudi Arabia is blessed with human resources with great potential. It’s a win-win situation for you,” Al-Ajmi said, noting that materials procured in Kingdom would arrive faster. He also urged the CEOs to consider locating engineering offices in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco has completely reevaluated the bidding processes used in earlier contracts and works with partnering contractors in a transparent environment. Saudi Aramco project managers located in the home countries of the engineering contractors have adopted a team approach, helping the companies to overcome challenges while ensuring that schedules are met and potential cost savings exploited where appropriate.
Daniel Valot, chairman of Technip, commented on the sophistication of Saudi Aramco’s contracting strategy and said he is promoting its use in the industry as a best practice because of its timesaving and risk-management features.
After hearing the CEOs all state that the Saudi Aramco projects were getting top priority despite increasingly busy engineering job schedules worldwide, Saudi Aramco President and CEO Abdallah S. Jum’ah put the importance of these projects into perspective.
“When there are problems with the world’s energy supply, Saudi Arabia has an excess capacity to help keep markets stable,” he said. “It isn’t easy, but we do it. Saudi Aramco has a strategy consistent with the Kingdom’s policy of having between 1.5 million and 2 million barrels of excess capacity. This brings stability to the world economy, and we all benefit from that. When you think about it, oil provides warmth for children when it’s cold; it gets help to places in times of need; it makes the MP3 players for kids and even goes into the clothing on our families’ backs.”“We can do it,” Jum’ah told the CEOs, “but it’s a team effort — and we need your commitments to get the jobs done as planned and on time.”
