HAWIYAH, 30 March 2007 — Near the vast desert at the southern end of the Ghawar oil field in the Eastern Province, 10,000 men leave their camp housing each morning to take buses to the job sites of Saudi Aramco’s Hawiyah Natural Gas Liquids Recovery Project, which recovers ethane and propane from sales gas to significantly increase the Kingdom’s supply of high-value petrochemical feedstock.
Of this multinational work force, which is expected to grow to a peak of 14,000 over the next few months, more than 2,000 young Saudis are filling a variety of construction positions from engineers and safety officers to scaffolders, warehousemen and welders. Saudi Aramco has had great success in Saudizing the company work force. Now it is partnering with its many contractors to achieve unparalleled levels of success in several company mega projects designed to increase the Kingdom’s energy stream — not only in cost savings and project schedules but in energizing a young generation to gather the skills needed to take part in the Kingdom’s economic development efforts.
“There are plenty of young people out there looking to us for their future,” Saudi Aramco’s Vice President of Project Management Ali A. Al-Ajmi told contractors gathered in Alkhobar recently at a productivity conference. He oversees all of Saudi Aramco’s major construction projects. All the project contracts — covering about 70,000 construction jobs — require increasing levels of Saudization. “This did not happen on its own,” Al-Ajmi said.
“Saudization is something we’re very proud of at Hawiyah,” said Mohammed A. Hammad, project manager for Hawiyah NGL. “Saudi Aramco has mandated these Saudization requirements, and we have been very successful in meeting them with the support and commitment of our contractors. We are very proud to see young Saudis taking charge — both in Saudi Aramco and among our contractors.”
The veteran of several Saudi Aramco mega projects notes a big change.
“We have safety officers who are proving to be very good. For the first time in my career we have Saudi welders who are contractor employees working very effectively on our job site,” Hammad said. “One of the gas treatment chemical storage tanks was completed by Saudi welders, inspected by a Saudi inspector, and they have a Saudi engineer. It is a small example of what Saudis can do if given the right chance and the right support.”
“We have a multinational crew, but we have completed one tank with a total Saudi welding crew,” said Glyn R. Johns, business development manager for Arabian CB&I Ltd., a Dubai-based construction company that is building 15 massive storage tanks at the Hawiyah NGL project. “They have constructed that tank with all Saudi workers. My information is that it is the first time such a tank has been built in Saudi Arabia with an entirely Saudi work force.”
Many earlier attempts at Saudization across the Kingdom have had mixed results — simply setting targets does not work. Saudi Aramco and its partners earlier formed a Contractor Saudization Committee composed of some of the company’s top executives as well as leading Saudi businessmen and construction contractors, which enable all parties concerned to share knowledge about the challenges, what works and what doesn’t.
“Saudization is an investment, and it’s a good thing to educate and train these young people,” said Mohammed S. Al-Marri, a contractor who serves as Hawiyah project safety superintendent for the gas treatment and compression work. “There’s a general school here and a welding school here, and I think that contractors should expand these things in future projects. We can improve this training in the future.”
Al-Marri said successful Saudization will make a difference for contractors. “We don’t want to see Saudization come and go,” he said. “We want to see benefits from Saudization. This is a unique opportunity for young people to become key players in these companies, and it benefits both them and society in many ways.”
The on-site training equips the young Saudis to meet the highest levels of performance and the highest quality standards, neither of which can be sacrificed when building complex hydrocarbon processing facilities. In addition to the task-specific training the young men get, they also learn English and mathematics — both core competencies for those who take part in the massive, multinational projects.
“We have about 70 students right now, and they’re very enthusiastic about the classes,” said Saad Al-Zubi, a math teacher from Al-Hasa who works at the onsite GAMA school. “We have our challenges, but with company support, I am sure we can overcome them.”
The training, combined with performance incentives, motivates the young workers and lowers attrition rates. “I used to work in operations and maintenance, but I’ve liked this job since I took it,” said Nasser Al-Ali, a young Hofuf man who has worked for more than a year on the project as a safety engineer. “I’m going to stick with it for sure.”
With Saudi Aramco relying more heavily on contractors to build the current mega projects, some young engineers anxious for experience and advancement are seeking out the contractors rather than the oil giant for career opportunities.
“The private sector today is a lot more diverse and better developed than it was 10 years ago,” said Abdulkarim Saleh Alyami, an American-educated mechanical engineer who hails from Najran. Alyami is the project quality manager for ACB&I’s Hawiyah storage tank team. “Opportunities are much more plentiful, and it doesn’t only involve a few areas of specialization. Guys with engineering backgrounds and business backgrounds or any education will find private sector companies that will help with their education.”
After four years working in Saudi Aramco’s Inspection Department and on earlier company mega projects, Alyami decided he wanted more hands-on experience.
“At one point, Saudi Aramco was the prime choice for any candidate, and in some ways it still is. My advice to anybody starting out is to seek the private sector first,” he said. “For young Saudis who are just graduating now, the opportunities in the private sector are there, and they should go after them. They can also learn how businesses run, and maybe they can start their own small businesses and develop the country even further.”
Alyami said one reason he made the switch was so he could get in on the ground floor of what is expected to be a very busy global construction sector over the next decade. “It’s an international company, and the chance I will get to work abroad is pretty high, which is definitely something that I’m looking for,” Alyami said. “In Saudi Arabia, there is more work than we have people for, and that means there are a lot of growth opportunities career wise. The company’s Saudization program kicked off a couple of years ago, and there are still higher management opportunities for those who have ambition and are willing to go the extra mile. It’s a place where I can see myself for the next five years; after that, maybe I’ll consider another career move, or maybe I’ll stay with it.”
Perhaps one reason that young Saudis are getting into the construction trades in increasing numbers is that pace of work. It is unlikely good workers will experience much downtime between projects in the foreseeable future. Saudi Aramco alone is forecasting 89,000 private sector construction jobs on its projects next year.
“I am impressed with these guys,” said Dante Berrani, ACB&I site superintendent for Hawiyah who has years of experience in the construction of Qatif and Safaniya projects as well as work at Ras Tanura. “They are very interested in their jobs, whether it’s welding, safety training or warehousing. We’ve never had Saudi welders before. These guys listen to instruction, and there’s never any argument. They’re good, hard workers. We’re planning out our next project, and I’ve got them on my crew list already.”
Free training, competitive pay, good benefits and incentive packages designed to keep employees interested are proving to be powerful motivators for young Saudis making career decisions.
“My nephew was working here, and he told me about the job, so I came here and passed the test,” said Abdullah Hussain, a safety officer trainee from Hofuf. “Actually, I’m an agricultural engineer, but I’m looking for a career, and it looks like this job might offer me a good future. My dream is to work on a master’s degree, but for now, this is my job, and this job provides the future for me and my family.”
“It’s in the long-term interest of the country and Saudi Aramco to see more and more Saudi content in the private sector and the construction industry,” Hammad said. “Right now, we have about 2,100 Saudis in our contractor work force here doing a very good job despite the challenging work environment, aggressive schedule and complexity of the project. We intend to keep that Saudization level high. There’s a lot of potential out there, and there are a lot of job opportunities. We still have problems, but we’re gradually finding a good Saudi work force that is committed to working with the contractors. It’s going to take some time, but it is happening.”
