Doing Business in Saudi Arabia - International Franchise Association

Saudi Aramco IWP
In June 2003, a consortium, led by the U.S. company Aquatech and including the local Rabigh
Desalination Co., was awarded a $20 million contract to build a desalination plant for Saudi
Aramco’s Rabigh refinery complex. The project, which stipulates a 20-year water conversion
agreement, is expected to come on stream by 2006.
In August 2005, a consortium led by Marubeni and Itochu, and including the local ACWA Power
Projects, was awarded a $1.1 billion contract to build a co-generation and desalination plant for
the Rabigh integrated petrochemical and refining complex jointly owned by Saudi Aramco and
Sumitomo Chemical. An engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the cogeneration
and desalination plant was also awarded to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. on a
turn-key basis. The project, which stipulates a 25-year water and energy conversion
agreement, is expected to come on stream by 2008.
Water & Electricity Company (WEC)
In October 2005, the Shuaiba IWPP was awarded to a Saudi Malaysian consortium: The $2.4
billion project involves a 20-year power and water purchase agreement to produce 900 MW of
electricity and 880 cubic meters of desalinated water per day. The Shuaiba IWPP comes on
stream by the third quarter of 2009.
Power & Water Utility Co. for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafiq)
On January 1, 2003, the Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu (MARAFIQ)
was established to undertake the operation, management, expansion and construction of
seawater cooling systems, water desalination plants, sanitary and industrial wastewater
systems and electric power systems, thus providing essential utility services to industrial,
commercial and residential customers in the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu. In December
2006, Marafiq Jubail was awarded to French-Belgian Utility consortium. The $3.3 billion project
involves a 20-year power and water purchase agreement to produce 2,800 MW, and 800,000
cubic meters of desalinated water per day. The project would is to start production in the
second half of 2009.
Best Prospects/Services Return to top
The Saline Water Conversion Corp. (SWCC) continues to study the introduction of 20 new
saline water conversation projects to be implemented in the near future to meet the demand
increase for drinking and civil used water. The 20 new projects will include constructing new
plants and expanding existing ones. SWAC would like to see more American companies
involved in those projects due to their high tech and good reputation in this market. Also, there
are several large opportunities in the wastewater treatment sector. Several major projects are
under tendering, such as North Jeddah wastewater treatment, Lake Musk Sewerage Treatment
Project, Hair wastewater treatment in Riyadh, Medina wastewater treatment, and Dammam
wastewater treatment.
The following are a list of services and products will be required for future desalination, and
wastewater projects to be undertaken in Saudi Arabia:
• Consulting and engineering services