Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's oil giant, has signed 31 commercial collaborations with a total value of $27.5 billion with suppliers at the annual In Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) Forum in Dhahran.

 

Saudi Aramco is hosting its 4th IKTVA Forum & Exhibition this week at the Dhahran Expo Center in Dammam, attracting more than 1,000 local and international energy-sector service and equipment suppliers, manufacturers and small and medium enterprises to explore available investment opportunities with the company in the upstream, chemicals, utilities, non-metallic, IT and cybersecurity, and other areas. 

 

The annual flagship event supports the IKTVA programme, Saudi Aramco’s localisation strategy to build a world-class supply chain and establish Saudi Arabia as a globally-competitive energy hub in line with Vision 2030, the kingdom’s economic diversification programme.

 

The event opened today (November 26) under the patronage of Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Governor of the Eastern Province. The forum, which will conclude tomorrow (November 27) offers presentations, workshops and panels on best practices in navigating such areas as regulatory requirements, financing, R&D and talent development. 

 

In addition to the signing of MoUs and commercial collaborations, an awards programme was held to celebrate the programme’s success stories for the year (awarded companies are listed below). 

 

IKTVA participation is mandatory for every Saudi Aramco supplier, as the programme aims to attain 70 percent local content, create thousands of jobs and export 30 percent of local energy goods and services output by 2021. 

Partnerships support local content by contributing to job creation, technology transfer, training and development, and R&D. By 2030, the programme aims to establish 30 training centres helping prepare 360,000 highly skilled graduates for jobs of the future. 

 

In return, companies with a local presence can take advantage of more than SR1.7 trillion being spent by Saudi Aramco on localisation opportunities over the next decade.  

 

“Our 2018 IKTVA Forum marked the half-way point to our local-content goals, and the event has underlined the win-win nature of our programme with many of our international suppliers increasing their market share or moving their manufacturing to the kingdom,” said Saudi Aramco president & CEO Amin H Nasser. 

 

“We signed $27.5 billion in a total of 31 commercial collaborations. Companies that have invested here are ideally positioned to benefit further with our signing last month of SR125 billion in business at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, much of which will have a direct impact on IKTVA. As of now, 51 percent of each riyal Saudi Aramco earmarks for materials and services is spent locally,” Nasser said.

 

The annual IKTVA Forum & Exhibition is the leading global energy supply-chain event, driving additional domestic value and maximising sustainable, long-term growth for the Kingdom’s changing economy. 

 

The MoUs and commercial collaborations included the following companies and entities:

• Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd.

• Sapura Fabrication Sdn

• Consortium of Lamprell Energy and Boskalis Westminster

• Consortium of Technip Italy and Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering

• National Petroleum Construction Company

• Baker Hughes, a GE Company

• Schlumberger 

• Siemens

• Saudi Arabia Industrial Development Fund

• PowerChina

• ABB

• Leading National Academy, Technical & Vocational Training Corp, Human Resource Development Fund, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Development

• Gulf Chemicals & Industries Oils Company

• Yokogawa 

• Schneider Electric Company

• Honeywell

• Emerson 

• Saudi Mechanical Industries 

• Weir Arabian Metal/Weir Group 

• TechnipFMC 

• Ensco

• Shelf Drilling Group

• Noble 

• Larsen & Toubro 

• Gulf Heavy Industries 

• Al-Khonaini International Company 

• Hadi Hammam Al Hammam Holding Company

• Leanardo Helicopters & Lamar Holding Company 

• Airbus & Al-Qahtani Aviation

• Leading National Academy (LNA) & National Power Academy (NPA)

 

The IKTVA 2018 Excellence Awards winners are:

• Best Overall IKTVA Performance - Schlumberger Middle East

• Best Year-on-Year Improved IKTVA Performance - Tecnicas Reunidas

• Best in Training & Development - Nasser S. Al-Hajri Corp.

• Best in SME Development - Baker Hughes General Electric

• Best in Saudization - Arabian Drilling Company

• Best in Exports - Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company. - TradeArabia News Service