Saudi Aramco today hosted a visit by the Board of Directors of US-based National Oilwell Varco (NOV), a leading provider of technology, equipment, and services to the global oil and gas industry that supports customers’ full-field drilling, completion, and production needs.
The NOV delegation was led by its Chairman and CEO, Clay Williams and included the company’s executive leadership. On hand to receive Williams and the NOV delegation was Saudi Aramco President and CEO, Amin H. Nasser and the company’s senior executives including Senior Vice President of Upstream, Mohammed Al-Qahtani.
In June 2018, Saudi Aramco and NOV announced the signing of the shareholder agreement to form a joint venture partnership to establish an integrated world-class on-shore rig and equipment manufacturing and aftermarket facility in Ras Al-Khair in Saudi Arabia. Per the shareholder agreement, Saudi Aramco will own 30% of the joint venture’s shares, while NOV will own the remaining 70%.
“The visit of NOV’s board today marks a further milestone in Saudi Aramco’s partnership with one of the world’s leading equipment and service providers to the world’s oil and gas industry. Only recently, we had France’s Total committing to invest in a major petrochemicals project in Jubail, and we also have niche industry players like NOV expanding their presence in Saudi Arabia, which strongly demonstrates that the Kingdom’s oil and gas sector continues to attract investments from companies across the energy value chain,’’ said Nasser.
It is estimated that the JV facility will create local employment when fully operational for around 1,100 people in multiple disciplines and levels of expertise. Moreover, the facility will contain a world class training center installed with the latest equipment and simulators to provide the required training for Saudi’s as Saudization levels are expected to be at least 65% at the facility.
The joint venture is currently under formation and the construction of the facility is expected to commence by the end of the year. Moreover, the SAGIA Industrial, Service, and Trading Investment licenses have already been officially received.
This JV will also increase the prospect for future growth of the oil and gas industry in the MENA region, creating new opportunities to meet local demand, and further strengthening exports from Saudi Arabia to the region.
During the recent Future Investment Initiative (FII) Forum in Riyadh, NOV was one of many international companies, which signed high-impact commercial collaborations with Saudi Aramco. Collaboration with companies such as NOV is aligned with Saudi Vision 2030 by helping to diversify the local economy, add more value domestically, assist in Kingdom industrialization, promote job creation and pave way for Saudi Aramco’s aspiration of achieving 70% localization among its suppliers by 2021 under its flagship In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) initiative.
