Saudi Aramco signed 15 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and strategic and commercial collaborations valued at more than US$34 billion with 15 international partner companies and entities from eight countries in 3 continents.
These collaborations reflect the range and ambition of Saudi Aramco’s business interests, reinforcing its position as the world’s preeminent energy and chemicals company.
The MOUs reflect both Saudi Aramco’s and the Kingdom’s international partnership strategies and the determination to diversify the economy, enhance the domestic investment environment and boost employment opportunities.
The MOUs support Saudi Aramco’s forward-looking strategy across business units, including downstream, offshore, and engineering. It engages with companies representing eight countries including major businesses in France, China, the U.S., Japan, the UAE, the United Kingdom, South Korea and India.
A number of these MOUs will enhance the In-Kingdom Total Value Add (iktva) program, Saudi Aramco’s flagships initiative to improve the domestic supply chain, its operations and its employment potential, through greater commercial engagement with Saudi businesses. Iktva’s localization objective is to achieve 70% of locally supplied goods and services by 2021.
In the area of job creation, Saudi Aramco has proactively pursued opportunities to pilot the high value job creation in the Kingdom, increasing opportunities for Saudi citizens over the next 10-15 years with anchor projects, including the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Service in Ras Al Khair which will generate in the region of 30,000 direct and 50,000 indirect jobs.