Al KHOBAR: Saudi mining firm Maaden signed deals worth SR977m ($260m) with US firms Fluor Corp and Bechtel to help develop an industrial city in the country’s north, it said.
Saudi Arabia, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, is keen to develop its mining industry to diversify the economy away from relying on oil.
Under one contract, worth SR745m, Fluor Arabia will provide engineering consultancy services and manage the construction of a new phosphate project for Maaden, called Umm Wual in Waad Al Shimal City for Mining Industries, Maaden said in a bourse statement issued late on Saturday.
Maaden also signed two other contracts worth SR232m with Bechtel Arabia to monitor and manage the project to develop the city as well as preliminary designs of the infrastructure of the Waad Al Shimal city.
The contracts run through late 2016, when phosphate production is expected to start from the mega project estimated to cost SR26bn.
The Umm Wual project would add nearly 1.5 million tonnes annually of phosphorus oxide to Maaden’s planned phosphate capacity.
Zain appoints ex-Wataniya
chief as CEO
DUBAI: Kuwait’s Zain appointed Scott Gegenheimer as group chief executive yesterday, the former monopoly said in a bourse statement, six months after he quit as CEO of rival telecom operator Wataniya.
Gegenheimer will start his new role immediately, Zain said, replacing Nabeel bin Salama, who in October announced he would step down as group CEO at the end of his contract in February 2013. Gegenheimer joined Qatar Telecom (Qtel) subsidiary Wataniya in 2002, became CEO in 2008 and resigned from the company in June this year.
Agencies
