Saudi Aramco is looking for additional engineering firms to provide hook-up and commissioning services for its offshore projects and infrastructure.

Aramco has for some years been operating a small pool of contractors with which it has long-term agreements (LTAs) giving them the exclusive right to bid for tenders relating to hook-up and commissioning services.

MEED has learnt that Aramco is looking to expand that group, which exists alongside the primary LTA pool of offshore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors, due to the high volume of offshore work that the Saudi oil giant has awarded in recent times and plans to tender in the near-term.

Local Saudi companies Al-Shoaibi Group and Zamil Offhsore are understood to be the two existing hook-up and commissioning firms in the group, an industry source tells MEED.

The LTAs with the firms expire in August. “There’s every chance that they [the local firms] will continue to be in that pool. They have been there for a while,” the source says.

Aramco is understood to be considering renewing the contracts, as well as adding new players to the hook-up and commissioning services pool, according to the source.

On 21 March, Aramco invited new offshore companies to bid for inclusion in the group and firms are now preparing to make their bids.

The source describes the work for this particular LTA-modelled group to be “jobs for pretty small and specific services”, with the contracts being far below $100m in value.

“It’s not worth it for smaller players or companies with no presence in Saudi Arabia to bid for this [LTA group]. Firms that have a presence [in the kingdom] might look to bid for this," the source says, in reference to the EPC contractors that are part of, or are bidding to join, the main offshore EPC LTA club.