Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), was recognised for its localisation efforts at Saudi Aramco’s In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) Forum in Dhahran.

The company also announced a series of agreements at the forum. The agreements are in line with Saudi Aramco’s 2030 vision and IKTVA programme, said a statement from the company.

BHGE’s support for the advancement of Saudi local suppliers and development of in-country expertise was formerly recognised at the forum, as the company received the 2018 IKTVA Excellence Award for ‘Best in Supplier and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Development’.

BHGE has more than 1,350 Saudi suppliers in its supply chain and has helped create more than 5,300 indirect jobs.

BHGE signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Aramco highlighting the company’s five-year IKTVA roadmap to expand BHGE’s footprint in the kingdom.

This MoU supports its efforts to drive local job creation and develop a broader base of local suppliers with the capabilities necessary to meet the demand. This supports Saudi Aramco’s IKTVA programme which aims to achieve 70 per cent local content, create thousands of new jobs and increase exports by 2021.

BHGE also carried out the official inauguration of its 30,000-sq-m multi-modal facility, located in the 2nd Industrial City in Dammam (Modon). It will support manufacturing, assembly, packaging and testing of turbomachinery equipment and components and is the first facility of its kind outside of BHGE’s Turbomachinery & Process Solutions headquarters in Florence, Italy.

Today, the multi-modal facility has over 90 per cent Saudisation and is working with more than 20 local suppliers to support its operations. The majority of the components are being localised for the first time ever not only in the Kingdom, but also within the entire region.

Today, the facility supports the needs of the Haradh and Hawiyah gas compression project in Saudi Arabia, with plans to expand in the future to serve the Middle East. The facility can accommodate the assembly of any size and kind of turbomachinery equipment including heavy duty and aeroderivative gas turbines, steam turbines and centrifugal compressors. In addition, a high-pressure testing bunker is built within the facility for hydrostatic and leakage tests.

Rami Qasem, president and CEO of BHGE Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and India, said: “Saudi Arabia is diversifying and strengthening its oil and gas ecosystem with a focus on significant long-term value creation.”

“With our presence in the Kingdom for over 80 years and playing a vital role in the country’s oil and gas industry, we understand the need to build the skills of Saudi talents to lead and serve the diverse initiatives. Our efforts in the region help create a vibrant local supply chain; from drilling services to manufacturing, we are covering the entire bandwidth of the oil and gas sector in the kingdom,” he added.

With over 2,700 employees, BHGE has more than 10 facilities for manufacturing, maintenance and R&D in the kingdom.

BHGE's footprint includes an assembly, maintenance and overhaul workshop; a drill bits manufacturing facility that exports to over 40 countries; a completions and well intervention facility; a pressure control facility that is the largest and one of the most advanced by BHGE in the region with the manufacturing done entirely in the kingdom; the Dhahran Technology Center that has over 15 R&D projects and has filed over 30 patents; an artificial lift facility that partners with 120 local suppliers; a turbomachinery processes and services facility; and one of the first and largest chemical blending plants in the kingdom. – TradeArabia News Services