- A groundbreaking ceremony held at King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) marks the commencement of the facility’s construction
- The facility is Baker Hughes’ Oilfield Services largest assembly, maintenance, and overhaul hub in the Eastern Hemisphere
- The facility will help create an additional 120 jobs, with Saudi nationals forming 70% of the 600+ employees
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: Baker Hughes, a global energy technology company, celebrates the commencement of construction of its Oilfield Services (OFS) regional hub located at King Salman Energy Park (SPARK). The groundbreaking ceremony at the project site was attended by Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes and Ahmad Al Sa’adi, senior vice president, technical services of Aramco.
SPARK is located at the heart of the energy market in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. Baker Hughes’ investment is a significant milestone for SPARK, which is a 50 sq kilometer energy city megaproject that will position Saudi Arabia as a global energy, industrial and technology hub. SPARK’s ecosystem will capture the full economic value from energy-related goods and services in the Kingdom and throughout the region, providing investors with an integrated environment that will contribute over $6 billion annually to the Saudi GDP, generate up to one hundred thousand jobs and stimulate socioeconomic advances across all levels of society.
The 300,000 sq meter regional hub will support Baker Hughes’ OFS operations and customers across the Middle East. The facility, which is the largest assembly, maintenance, and overhaul hub for Baker Hughes’ Oilfield Services business in the Eastern Hemisphere, will be home to more than 600 employees, of which 70% are Saudi nationals. The facility plans to include 120 newly created jobs by the time it opens in late 2022.
“Baker Hughes is committed to supporting Saudi Vision 2030 and Aramco’s iktva program. These programs drive localization through job creation, supply chain development and export enablement, and further emphasize Saudi Arabia’s position as a global energy hub,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, Chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes. “Today’s milestone reflects our continued efforts to transform our core operations to ensure we deliver to Saudi Aramco and regional customers with speed, efficiency and operational excellence.”
“We are proud to mark the commencement of construction for Baker Hughes’ hub at SPARK, where they join a wide range of international companies operating their regional hubs from our strategic location,” noted Saif S. Al-Qahtani, President and CEO of SPARK. “This significant step is a testament to SPARK’s unique industrial eco-system, world-class infrastructure, and capabilities. Our collaboration with Baker Hughes supports our vision and commitment to serve as the preeminent global industrial hub for the energy sector.”
The OFS regional hub will be Baker Hughes’ second facility at SPARK after Novel Non-metallic Solutions, a 50/50 joint venture with Saudi Aramco, which broke ground in December 2020. Baker Hughes has more than 80 years of operations in Saudi Arabia, with more than 2800 employees and more than 10 existing Baker Hughes facilities focused on manufacturing, maintenance, services, training, and research and development.
About Baker Hughes:
Baker Hughes (NYSE: BKR) is an energy technology company that provides solutions for energy and industrial customers worldwide. Built on a century of experience and with operations in over 120 countries, our innovative technologies and services are taking energy forward – making it safer, cleaner and more efficient for people and the planet.
About King Salman Energy Park (SPARK):
King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) is a fully integrated industrial ecosystem. SPARK spans an area of 50 square kilometres and is being developed with a vision to become the leading gateway to the regional energy sector, providing a complete spectrum of solutions to support business growth in the Kingdom. SPARK is also the first and only industrial city in the world to achieve silver LEED certification.
SPARK offers infrastructure at international standards for global investors in the oil & gas, refining, petrochemical, power and water production and treatment industries.
Execution is planned over three phases. SPARK has completed 80% of its first phase, which consists of infrastructure, roads, utilities and real estate assets established across 14 square kilometers; phase one is set to be completed in 2021. This is in addition to a dedicated three-square kilometers dry port and logistics zone.
