The orders are valued at a total more than $50 million.
Atlas Copco will supply 20 turbo compressors for a power generation application in a new plant outside of Jubail.
The customer is a consortium of the Al-Arrab contracting company and Sepco III Electric Construction Corporation of China.
The combined 2,400 MW power and desalination plant will provide power, steam and water for the aluminum smelter being constructed by the Maaden Saudi Arabian Mining Company.
Atlas Copco earlier this year received a turnkey contract to supply the complete compressed air system for the Maaden aluminum smelter and will deliver five of its largest oil-free air compressors as well as two smaller compressors and dryers.
“Atlas Copco’s proven competence and experience from these kinds of projects throughout the world, combined with the reliability of our equipment, were essential in winning these orders,” says Stephan Kuhn, Business Area President, Atlas Copco Compressor Technique.
“Investments in aluminum smelters in the Middle East are growing and we have a strong presence in this market segment.”
The power generation order was booked in the second quarter and is worth about $40 million.
The machines are scheduled to be delivered in the first half of 2012.
The order for the aluminum smelter was received already in the first quarter.
The Maaden aluminum plant will have a capacity of 740 000 tons of aluminum and 1.8 million tons of alumina per year.
The site will consist of an alumina refinery, aluminum smelter and roll mill.
Atlas Copco is an industrial group with world-leading positions in compressors, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems.
The Group delivers sustainable solutions for increased customer productivity through innovative products and services. Founded 1873, the company is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has a global reach spanning more than 170 countries.
Atlas Copco has ridden a wave of strong demand, not least from a booming mining business, in recent quarters and last month forecast that demand would increase somewhat further in the near term.
It this week affirmed its outlook and its top executive said demand trends seen early in the year had carried over into the second quarter.
“We see ... the same continuation with the same geographical positive and less positive areas,” chief executive Ronnie Leten was quoted as saying in a Reuters report.
“There are spots that are a bit softer, and that is southern Europe and northern Africa and in the Middle East, well, we will have to see what happens there. But we see a good continuation in Asia and North America is doing well.”
But Leten cautioned Atlas Copco would be coming up against tougher comparisons that would temper recent soaring growth rates.
Demand has come back strongly in most markets in a rapid recovery from a sharp fall during the global financial crisis and the speed of the upturn has also begun to tax supply chains in sections of the economy.
“Everybody thinks that the sky is the limit. I think the world at a certain moment needs a bit of constraint. We see that already in the supply chain,” Leten said.
“You cannot continue to develop at that level. Then you need to do structural investment and that takes a bit of time.”
