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Saudi leads in Mena construction sector |
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Times News Service Sat May 14 2011 08:16:36 GMT+0400 (Arabian Standard Time) Oman Time
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MUSCAT: Saudi Arabia accounts for 31 per cent of the total $32 billion of projects awarded in the four months to end-April, according to a study conducted by Citigroup Global Markets.
“Saudi Arabia has awarded almost $10 billion of projects in the four months to end-April; this equates to 31 per cent of the total projects awarded in the Mena region,” said the report.
Saudi has awarded 26 projects totalling $9.6 billion in the last four months. This compares with $846 million of projects awarded over the same period last year.
The projects awarded include a $3 billion multi-package award for the Shaybah gas plant project that was awarded to Samsung in March. Also included is a $2.1 billion offshore gas project awarded to Saipem.
Saudi Arabia also dominates preliminary stage projects, i.e. those at the exploration, feasibility and design stages which are not certain enough to be included in the pipeline. Saudi now has just over $200 billion of projects under consideration. This is 55 per cent higher than the UAE’s $130 billion. The UAE has 26 per cent market share.
It awarded $8.2 billion of projects in the four months to end-April. However, this translates to a more modest 32 per cent on year on year increase.
The largest UAE project awarded year to date is the $2.2 billion Shamkha South infrastructure project, which was awarded to four two UAE, one Chinese and a Saudi Arabian contractor. Qatar has 19 per cent market share. Its largest project was the $1.7 billion offshore Barzan contract to Japanese Slowing of projects awarded At 9 per cent market share, Kuwait has seen a slowing of project awards from January; most likely as a result of political issues. Algeria is in line with Kuwait.
It awarded a $3 billion rail project to Spanish contractor, FCC in March.
The report said GCC projects planned and underway stands stable at $1.9 trillion, which is in line with our last report in March. While the UAE (-35 per cent) and Kuwait (-43 per cent) have fallen on year on year, Saudi Arabia is up 8 per cent (to over $660 billion).
Similarly, there are $1.6 trillion projects, which are either cancelled or delayed, which is in line with last March. The split between cancelled and delayed is also stable at 32 per cent/68 per cent. Saudi Arabia shows an 8 per cent increase.
This is most likely due to recent protests. Interestingly, Egypt shows a 32 per cent decline. In April this year, $5 billion of projects were awarded across the Middle and North Africa (Mena) region. This translates to a month-on-month decline of 51 per cent and year-on-year decline of 61 per cent. However, this is unsurprising given the recent political unrest across the region.
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