News in brief
01 March 2016
Punj Lloyd wins $304m EPC deal in Oman
Punj Lloyd, an engineering and construction group in India, has won a $304-million oil and gas engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal to install pipelines from Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) and Oman Gas Company (OGC), according to the Oman Daily Observer.
The scope of work include the construction of a 14-inch diameter, a 300-km natural gas liquid (NGL) pipeline and a 32-inch diameter, 301-km gas pipeline, says the report.
The 14-inch diameter pipeline, part of Orpic’s $6.4-billion Liwa Plastic Industries Complex (LPIC), will extend from the New Fahud NGL plant to the steam cracker unit at Sohar in Oman.
The firm will lay another 32-inch-diameter gas pipeline parallel to the existing 32-inch-diameter Fahud-Sohar pipeline for OGC, in view of the increased gas demand and to ensure availability of supply. The pipeline is being laid to supply gas for North Power station.
The scope of work also includes construction of block valve and pigging stations. Both pipelines are to be completed within 38 and 35 months respectively.
Khodari eyes private projects
Saudi contractor Abdullah A M Al Khodari & Sons (Al Khodari), whose value of government contracts fell by almost half last year, is targeting more private sector work and deals in the GCC and Africa after cutting 8,000 jobs last year, according to The National.
The value of the company’s new project wins fell to SR1.5 billion ($399 million) from SR2.9 billion ($772 million) in 2014, reports the newspaper, citing a senior company official.
“We are going through volatility, as is any other business,” states Kailash Sadangi, the chief financial officer.
“We have a clear strategy in place to counter what is happening in the marketplace. We are one of the preferred contractors [in Saudi Arabia], we have a peak contractor classification and we have a lot of competitive strengths,” he adds.
According to him, the benefit of its diversification strategy was already paying off.
Within Saudi Arabia, the company is targeting other private-sector giants for work, such as Aramco, and is targeting consortia and joint ventures looking to deliver new metro and public transport projects.
It is also trying to move into complementary areas such as alternative energy and facilities management besides looking to link with developers that are planning to work with the housing ministry to deliver much-needed new homes under a SR250-billion ($66.6 billion) housing programme announced by the late King Abdullah in 2013, he adds.
Mushrif wins $46m Kuwait road project
Mushrif Trading and Contracting Company (MTCC) says it has been awarded a $46-million contract for road works aimed at improving traffic flow at Al Bidda Roundabout in Kuwait City.
The contract signed by Ministry of Public Works is one of several projects in its pipeline to upgrade and improve the country’s road network. It is expected to be completed in the next two years.
Located on the city’s eastern coastline where Al Blajat Street meets Al Ta’awon Street and the Fifth Ring Road, Al Bidda Roundabout is a busy junction that often suffers from a slowdown in the flow of traffic. As per the deal, Mushrif’s role will be to construct a grade-separated interchange at a north-south axis along the coastal roads, says a senior official.
According to company chief executive Chris Preece, this is the second road contract to be awarded to Mushrif within the last four months. It outbid nine major international and local contractors with an offer at $272 million for a ministry tender for a 40-km road serving new developments in the cities of Sabah Al Ahmad and Mina Abdulla including the Mina Abdulla industrial area, and allowing safe access to and from Al Wafra.
UAE interiors firm nets $191m contracts
Cloisall, a leading interior fitting and contracting company based in the UAE, says it has secured regional contracts worth Dh700 million ($191 million) to be initiated over the next 24 months.
With 2016 in full swing, Cloisall aims to cross Dh1 billion ($272 million) in order backlogs by the end of the second quarter, says a senior official.
“At Cloisall, we are proud to have kicked off 2016 with such promising growth prospects. The fact that our order book has reached the Dh700-million ($191 million) mark and that we have set out to exceed the Dh-1 billion ($272 million) order backlogs – including revenues pertaining to the trading and chemical divisions – is a powerful testament to our proven track record of delivering high quality results,” remarks its CEO Majed Farha.
The Emirati firm capped off 2015 with an organic growth of 50 per cent, while its fast-expanding pipeline of contract opportunities increased by 40 per cent.
Its robust line-up of 2016-2017 projects is set to help cement the company’s pattern of future growth and reinforce its strategic vision of success.
