General Electric (GE) proposes to build an advanced oil and gas manufacturing facility in Dammam’s Second Industrial City, part of the $1 billion investment that was committed to Saudi Arabia last year.
The company signed a 74,000 sq m land lease agreement with the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon). More than half that area will be utilised to build the facility which will support key GE customers including Saudi Aramco, with shorter cycles through localised manufacturing of key components. The manufacturing facility will be operational in Q4 2015.
GE’s chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Inmelt and Hisham Al Bahkali, its president and CEO in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, signed the agreement with Saleh I. Al-Rasheed, director general, Modon, at a ceremony held in Dammam.
Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al Rabiah attended the signing ceremony.
The manufacturing complex, to be located near the existing Pressure Control Facility, will integrate the different business lines of GE Oil & Gas under one roof.
The complex will cover manufacturing capabilities, packaging and assembly lines for GE Oil & Gas businesses, measurement and control facilities and subsea systems, as well as artificial lift and pressure control equipment for its drilling and surface business.
Also housed in the complex will be GE’s consolidated offices.
Al Rabiah said: "We aim to attract leading international manufacturing companies to invest in the kingdom. As the largest manufacturing company in the world, GE’s presence will be an added value, and this project is part of the company’s commitment to invest $1 billion in the kingdom, including in the manufacturing sector."
Rami Qasem, president and CEO, GE Oil & Gas, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said: "The extensive services to be offered by the planned GE Oil & Gas manufacturing facility will enable us to provide our partners with the most advanced services and product support in the least possible response time to strengthen their operational efficiencies.
"It also marks our sustained commitment to Saudi Arabia’s growth vision to promote localised manufacturing, job creation for Saudi youth and to boost the exports sector. We are thankful to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for their support, which will enable us to extend continued support for the kingdom’s drilling and production, pipelines and storage, industrial power generation, and refining and petrochemical sectors."
GE’s Pressure Control Facility, which opened last year, manufactures key equipment such as wellheads, and valves that support the upstream oil and gas sector.
More than 500 GE turbines currently generate over 50 per cent of the kingdom’s electricity, and the company’s advanced technology supports the production of 150 million litres of clean water daily.
