International engineering consultancies that have signed Saudi Aramco’s general engineering services plus (GES-plus) contract have started to hold talks that could see similar deals struck with other major Saudi Arabian companies.

Saudi Aramco invited the five signatories to talks with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) with a view to rolling out the initiative to companies that share synergies with the state-owned oil giant.     

The GES-plus involves the provision of detailed engineering and project management services to Aramco using local engineering resources. Four US companies – Foster Wheeler, Jacobs Engineering, KBR and Mustang Engineering – have already completed registration, with Canada’s SNC Lavalin to follow shortly.

The terms of the deal involves the companies forming joint ventures with local engineering consultancies and promoting the training and development of Saudi engineers. As the scheme progresses, Saudi Aramco will divert most of its detailed engineering and project management work to the GES-plus signatories.   

“The [GES-plus] started slowly, but is gaining momentum now,” says a contracting source based in Saudi Arabia. “It has required a major investment in the kingdom in terms of finance and human resources and this has started to be recognised.”

The source added that nothing had been agreed and the talks were only in the “very preliminary stages”.