NMDC Energy lands $763m Saudi Aramco offshore EPC awards

NMDC Energy has won three offshore engineering, procurement and construction contracts from Saudi Aramco worth a combined AED 2.8bn ($763.3m), the Abu Dhabi-listed contractor disclosed in a stock exchange filing.

The awards come as letters of award for EPC work, with all three projects scheduled for completion within 18 to 23 months. That is a demanding timeline for offshore scope of this scale, and the company disclosed neither the project names nor the individual package values — a gap worth noting when assessing margins on the work.

Which fields do the contracts cover?

Local media reports have linked the awards to Aramco's contract release and purchase orders (CRPOs) 167, 169 and 171, covering the Marjan and Zuluf offshore oilfields:

• CRPO 167 — engineering, procurement, construction and installation of eight jackets at the Marjan field
• CRPO 169 — three production deck modules at the same Marjan development
• CRPO 171 — three production deck modules at the Zuluf field

The three packages form part of a wider batch of five offshore tenders Aramco issued to contractors working under its long-term agreement (LTA) framework. Italy's Saipem picked up the remaining two packages, confirming the LTA pool remains a two-horse contest for the largest Saudi offshore scopes.

For the heavy-lift and installation chain, the immediate consequence is volume: eleven major steel structures — eight jackets plus six production deck modules across two fields — will move through fabrication and offshore installation inside roughly two years. Marshalling capacity at Saudi East Coast yards and crane vessel availability in the Gulf will tighten accordingly.

How deep does the Aramco relationship run?

The awards extend a relationship that began with a long-term agreement signed in 2016. The two companies renewed that arrangement in April 2025, extending it by three years with an option for a further three years on top. The framework spans engineering, procurement, fabrication, transportation, installation and pre-commissioning of offshore facilities in Saudi waters — effectively the full offshore delivery chain under one umbrella.

NMDC Energy has also built out its in-Kingdom manufacturing base to serve that pipeline. Its fabrication yard at Ras Al Khair spans 400,000 sq m, began production last year and carries an annual capacity of 40,000 tonnes. That footprint, roughly the size of 56 football pitches, gives the contractor capacity to absorb jacket and module work without shipping steel from the UAE — a localisation position Aramco has pushed suppliers toward for years.

What it means for the market

For Aramco, the awards signal continued execution of its offshore infill and increment programme at Marjan and Zuluf despite earlier spending caution across the sector. For contractors under the LTA, the split — three packages to NMDC Energy, two to Saipem — shows the Saudi client spreading load rather than consolidating, which keeps competitive tension inside the framework.

The caveat is disclosure. NMDC Energy has not confirmed the CRPO numbers, the per-package values or the margin profile, so the $763.3m headline cannot yet be broken down by field or scope. If the 23-month outer deadline holds, installation activity at Marjan and Zuluf will peak in 2026–27, sustaining demand for Gulf offshore construction capacity through the middle of the decade.