The Gulf has given hope to Turkish contractors who lost business in Russia due to the war. Within the scope of the sectoral contacts that have recently increased with the warming relations, Saudi Aramco officials, the second largest company in the world, contacted the Turkish Contractors Association (TCA) and met with Turkish contractors in Ankara for cooperation in future projects. Saudi Arabia, which has an annual business potential of 10 billion dollars for the sector in the first phase, will compensate for the loss in Russia.
Contracting works in Russia, the biggest market of Turkish contractors, slowed down rapidly due to the war. In Russia, where the sector undertook projects worth 11 billion dollars in 2023, this figure dropped to 2.3 billion dollars last year and to 626 million dollars in the first 5 months of this year. Saudi Arabia is expected to close this gap in overseas contracting services as a result of increased sectoral contacts in parallel with the recently warming political relations. The interest of Saudi Aramco, the world giant company of the country, put a smile on faces of Turkish contractors, who accelerated their search for new markets and projects abroad after the effects of the war. Members of the Turkish Contractors Association (TCA) met with Aramco officials in Ankara on May 30-31, 2023.
TCA President Erdal Eren stated that during the event, Saudi Aramco’s projects were introduced to Turkish contracting and technical consultancy firms and cooperation opportunities were explored, and as a result of the contacts, it was decided to organize a new contracting delegation visit to the country in the summer for more detailed meetings. Aramco, with an annual project portfolio of 50 billion dollars, has a great business potential for Turkish contractors. While Saudi Arabia stands out in the region with its huge investment portfolio, which will reach a total of 3 trillion dollars in the near future in the field of contracting in general, it harbors a new business potential of 10 billion dollars annually for Turkish contractors in the first phase.
President Eren: “The troubles are behind us”
Representatives from around 80 Turkish contractors and technical consultancy firms participated in the “Business Opportunities in Saudi Arabia” event organized in Ankara by TCA and Aramco. Delivering the opening speech at the meeting, TCA Chairman M. Erdal Eren stated that they were pleased to work with Saudi Aramco as a reflection of their cooperation with Saudi Arabia. Eren stated that Saudi Arabia is the sixth country in the overseas activities of Turkish contractors with 386 projects worth approximately 25 billion dollars, that the problems between the two countries have been left behind, and that they would like to contribute to Saudi Arabia’s development programs by taking part in Aramco’s new period projects.
100 billion dollar project is planned
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Abdulkarim A. Al-Ghamdi, Senior Vice President of Aramco, thanked TCA for the opportunity to share Aramco’s activities in Saudi Arabia and current business opportunities with Turkish contracting companies. Al-Ghamdi stated that Turkiye is home to many competent and reputable contracting companies with a successful track record, and that Aramco aims to benefit from the expertise of Turkish contracting companies to achieve its goals. Al- Ghamdi said that Aramco has a portfolio of projects covering different fields such as oil, natural gas, petro-chemicals, energy and electricity, infrastructure and housing projects, noting that the planning process of more than $100 billion worth of projects planned to be launched in the near future is ongoing.