Gulf Construction Online - AKH spearheads a major expansion drive

Saudi Focus

AbdulKarim Holding’s stand at the Gulf Industry Fair this year.

AKH spearheads a major expansion drive

01 March 2016

Al Abdulkarim Holding (AKH), Saudi Arabia’s leading supplier and stockist of electrical, electromechanical, communications, instrumentation and oilfield components, is poised to further expand its manufacturing base with the launch of production of gate valves under a tie-up with Valvosider of Italy.

The factory will be launched this month (March) by AKH’s subsidiary Industrial Systems Group (ISG), said Abdullah Al Shahri, public relations manager.

This follows the opening of a service centre for Auma actuators from Germany in January and the signing of an agreement last month with Masco of the US, under which AKH will be the exclusive supplier of its emergency shutdown valves and monitoring devices.

Al Shahri revealed the details at the Gulf Industry Fair, a premier industrial exhibition, which was held in Bahrain last month.

The Dammam-based AKH claims to be the biggest electrical supplier to Saudi Aramco, and counts among its 150-plus clients leading Saudi entities such as Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).

Its subsidiary Naizak Global Engineering Systems provides specialised services to oil and gas, petrochemical, electrical, power and IT firms.

The group entered the manufacturing sector in 2009 with the establishment of ISG, which has set up a number of production facilities in the kingdom. These specialise in explosion-proof electrical materials and industrial automation systems for oil and gas fields and energy facilities, process analytical systems for gases and liquids, test vans, environmental and emission monitoring systems and control cabinets. ISG also manufactures GRP/FRP (glass-reinforced plastic/fibreglass reinforced plastic) products; cable trays and ladder trays.

AKH is currently busy with several projects in Saudi Arabia. “For Kaust (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) project in Thuwal, we have a SR1-billion ($267 million) order for laboratory equipment and lab information management software (LIMS),” said Al Shahri.

The company is currently in the fifth year of supply to Kaust under a 10-year contract. It is also supplying telecommunication systems for the King Abdullah Sports Stadium as well as the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.

In the hydrocarbons and petrochemicals sector, AKH has just started providing flanges for the Bahrain-Saudi pipeline project, and is supplying to the Wasit gas project (junction boxes, telecommunication systems and cables); Fadhili gas plant (telecommunication systems, electrical systems, piping, flanges and fittings); and Mastergas Phase Two.

Other projects include the supply of aluminium tank covers for Satorp under a €5.7-million ($6.37 million) order and for Jizan refinery under a €9.2-million ($10.3 million) deal.

Headquartered in Dammam, AKH has branches and warehouses in Al Khobar, Jubail, Riyadh, Jeddah and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia; Dubai and Abu Dhabi, in the UAE; Doha, Qatar; Manama, Bahrain; the UK; Italy; China; Japan; and Kazakhstan. Each area stocks materials locally or can readily obtain the materials from other locations.

AKH supplies products, services and solutions from internationally recognised brands to the oil and gas, petrochem industries, power, telecommunications, instrumentation and plant automation, banking and commercial construction sectors.