The combined value of main contract awards in the Middle East totalled $7.9bn in July, more than double the $3.2bn let in June. The Qatar dispute, it seems, is not denting project award activity. A total of 71 contracts were signed in July, compared with 34 in June.

All the GCC states except Bahrain recorded increases in the value of deals signed, with Qatar inking $896m of deals in July, up from $221m in June,  Saudi Arabia $1.5bn, compared with $638m the previous month, and the UAE out in front with $2.9bn, against $664m in June.

The UAE’s largest deal was the $230m contract awarded by a joint venture of the local Estithmaar Realty and the US’ Ian Schrager Company to Dubai Contracting Company to build the Edition Beachfront hotel in the Jumeirah Beach Residence area of Dubai.

Saudi Arabia’s biggest was the $800m contract awarded to a team of Greece’s Archirodon and the local Huta Marine by a joint venture of Saudi Aramco, National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and UK-headquartered Lamprell to construct a ship repair and building complex at Ras al-Khair.

The single largest contract award in July was in Kuwait: the $850m deal let by Kuwait Oil Company to Italy’s Saipem to construct a series of pipelines to supply oil and gas feedstock for the $17bn New Refinery Project.

Blockaded Qatar awarded eight contracts in July, the largest being the $438m deal let by the New Port Project Steering Committee to the local Al-Jaber Engineering for the design and construction of food facilities at Hamad Port. More than half of the country’s food imports are estimated to pass through its land border with Saudi Arabia, which was closed on 5 June.

Outside the GCC, Iraq signed deals worth $400m and $500m, for a project to reduce gas flaring at the Nasiriyah and Gharraf fields and the construction of a US Consulate building in the Kurdistan region respectively.

Looking forward, contract award activity is forecast to pick up, with both Dubai and Saudi Arabia moving ahead with construction projects.

Read previous contract awards.