Saudi Aramco awards $1.3bn EPC contracts to Italy's Saipem.

Collectively worth $1.3bn (SAR4.8bn), the contracts cover offshore work in Arabian Gulf oilfields for the Saudi Arabian company.

Saipem will deliver a range of EPC services for the development of the Berri and Marjan fields, which the Milan-based firm described as “among the most important” offshore sites in the region.

Saipem's scope includes the design, EPC, installation, and implementation of subsea systems.

It will also build offshore pipelines, underwater cables, and umbilical cords, as well as manage the construction of platform decks and the steel frame, known as a jacket, that supports the deck of a rig.

Both contracts form part of a long-term agreement between Saudi Aramco and Saipem. This alliance was renewed in 2015 and will be in force until at least 2021.

Saipem is involved in some of the most complex and challenging energy projects in the Middle East. It is one of the contractors working of one of three EPC packages for Duqm Refinery in Oman.

Near the end of 2018, Saipem awarded Galfar Engineering & Contracting a $13.9m (OMR5.3m) deal to deliver site preparation work at Ras Markaz. In the same month, it successfully negotiated a contract addendum worth more than $1.2bn with Egyptian joint venture Petrobel.

While the contractor continued to win lucrative contracts in the Middle East last year, it faced a major incident when its servers were targeted by hackers in December 2018. No data is believed to have been stolen and an investigation into the cause of the hack is ongoing.

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