Industry

McDermott Secures Strategic Project Management Consultancy Contract with Aramco.

McDermott has announced a highly coveted partnership: it has been hand-selected by Aramco as one of only eleven contractors to drive forward massive project management consultancy solutions across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Executing complex energy infrastructure is a strategic priority for Aramco, tied directly to the Kingdom’s long-term development goals. Securing robust project management provides a reliable, integrated framework for large-scale energy, downstream, petrochemical, and low-carbon programmes.

Through a newly established multi-year Project Management Consultancy (PMC) Long-Term Agreement (LTA), McDermott is officially positioned as a central engineering and project management service provider within Aramco's sprawling strategic investment portfolio. Operating as a fully integrated provider in over 30 countries with a workforce exceeding 30,000 personnel, McDermott continues to advance the next generation of global energy infrastructure.

The joint venture's integrated Out-of-Kingdom and In-Kingdom delivery model leverages McDermott's global experience alongside Solutions Leaders Fayez Engineering's (SLFE) local capabilities. SLFE operates as an Aramco-approved general engineering services plus (GES+) contractor, and this framework produces dynamic, efficient execution while adhering to Aramco's rigorous In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) and localisation objectives.

As part of this strategic collaboration, McDermott will combine its overarching technical expertise and global delivery frameworks with SLFE's robust domestic presence to seamlessly transform project execution. McDermott will provide its technology leadership in overall execution planning, governance, and front-end development (pre-FEED and FEED), seamless integration through established engineering centres, and continuous oversight to develop a fit-for-purpose project management solution for Aramco processes. SLFE, meanwhile, will spearhead engineering and client support within the Kingdom.

“Just as the United States and the Kingdom share a commitment to long-term collaboration, we share a commitment with SLFE to localisation, knowledge transfer and sustainable capacity building within the Kingdom,” said Michael McKelvy, McDermott's chief executive officer and chair of the board.

“This long‑term agreement reflects Aramco's confidence in our proven execution capabilities and our track record of delivering complex, world‑class projects in the Kingdom,” added Rob Shaul, McDermott's senior vice president of low carbon solutions.

Ashraf Alkhaznadar, SLFE's president and CEO, noted the mutual benefits of the joint venture for the region's broader development. “We are proud to partner with McDermott on this strategic agreement with Aramco,” he said. “Together, we bring complementary strengths that support Aramco's long‑term vision while continuing to develop national engineering capability.”

This landmark agreement underscores McDermott’s deeply rooted relationship with Aramco and its established history of successfully executing intricate engineering and energy projects throughout the Middle East. By continuing to deliver fully integrated, technology-driven solutions from concept to commissioning, McDermott is not only cementing its critical role in advancing the Kingdom's long-term developmental and energy transition targets, but it is also actively shaping the next generation of global energy infrastructure to empower a more sustainable future for the wider industry.

An artist’s illustration showing a floating production system with mooring spread. Image from Sonardyne.

As offshore energy infrastructure expands into increasingly demanding environments, safeguarding the integrity of underwater assets has become a paramount priority for the sector

Rising to this challenge, the underwater technology specialist Sonardyne has formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AMOG, an international advanced engineering company. Together, they are set to provide a complete subsea asset monitoring service tailored directly to the needs of offshore energy infrastructure operators.

This strategic alliance seamlessly integrates Sonardyne’s trusted underwater positioning, communication, and monitoring technologies with the industry-leading engineering assessment expertise of AMOG. By harnessing their combined capabilities, the partnership aims to unlock vital insights into asset health, substantially reduce costly operational downtime, and enable the safe life extension of critical underwater architecture. Crucially, this comprehensive monitoring approach will support a wide spectrum of subsea installations, encompassing floating offshore wind platforms and traditional oil and gas moorings, alongside essential pipelines and risers.

Dr Hayden Marcollo, a globally recognised specialist in moorings and vortex-induced vibration engineering and analysis, serves as a director at AMOG. Highlighting the transformative potential of the collaboration, he says: “Combining high‑quality subsea data, processed at source on Observer, with advanced engineering assessments, will provide asset owners with more actionable, near-real-time insight into the condition and behaviour of critical subsea infrastructure through a single solution.”

The implications for infrastructure management are profound. Providing a unified approach to complex engineering challenges allows for a proactive rather than reactive operational strategy. As Dr Marcollo further elaborates regarding the commercial benefits: “For operators, this could support earlier detection of anomalies, improved understanding of loads and motions, and more informed decisions around inspection, maintenance and integrity management, as well as asset longevity, in one end-to-end solution.”

The practical application of this partnership is already well underway. Demonstrating the system's immediate relevance to the rapidly expanding renewable energy market, Sonardyne and AMOG are actively collaborating on a near-real-time mooring monitoring system tailored for a European floating offshore wind project.

Frank Rose, business development manager at Sonardyne, outlined the broader vision for the joint initiative. He notes: “By integrating on-demand and long‑term monitoring data from subsea environments with engineering models and analytics, there’s an opportunity to provide a more complete picture of asset performance—whether supporting day‑to‑day operations, integrity assurance or life‑extension strategies.”

This MoU represents a forward-thinking approach to subsea infrastructure management that promises to enhance operational excellence. “By working alongside AMOG, we’re exploring how data and engineering assessments can come together to give operators greater confidence in the way their subsea assets are performing, today and over the long term," Rose adds

The acquisition with strengthen Weatherford's well construction and unconventionals capabilities. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Weatherford is set to enhance its well construction and unconventionals capabilities with an agreement to acquire NCS Multistage, a leading provider of highly engineered products and support services for well construction, well completion and field development

NCS Multistage, which is active in North America and selected global markets including the Middle East, brings solutions designed to enhance reliability and performance in complex well environments. The acquisition is expected to complement and enhance Weatherford’s portfolio by expanding well completions offerings while deepening Weatherford’s capabilities in the unconventional space, a growth area in the Middle East. Projects in the region include Aramco’s Jafurah unconventional gas development, the largest non-associated gas development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, estimated to contain 229 trillion standard cubic feet of raw gas and 75bn bbl of condensate. The UAE also has promising unconventional gas resources and has been accelerating its unconventional gas developments including across the Ruwais Diyab field. ADNOC is expected to reach FID this year with TotalEnergies on an unconventional gas project.

The acquisition of NCS Multistage will also enable the provision of differentiated, technology-enabled solutions that help customers improve operational and production outcomes; and enhance growth prospects for NCS Multistage by leveraging Weatherford’s international footprint.

Girish Saligram, Weatherford’s president and chief executive officer, commented, “The acquisition of NCS Multistage is a natural complement to our completions strategy and enhances the application fit of our well construction products portfolio. NCS Multistage's technology is expected to enhance our ability to serve customers across the completion lifecycle, from well design through production optimisation and late-life interventions, while deepening our exposure to the growing unconventional resource market. We expect to realise at least US$15mn in annual run-rate cost synergies over a period of 18 months. Additionally, we see a meaningful opportunity to create additional value by bringing this technology to our global customer base.”

Ryan Hummer, NCS Multistage’s chief executive officer, added, “This is a significant step for NCS Multistage that we believe positions our business—and the talented people who built it—for the next phase of growth as part of a leading global energy services company. This combination creates an opportunity for our products, technology, and people to reach a broader set of customers and markets faster than we could on our own, supported by Weatherford’s financial strength and international footprint, providing long-term opportunity and value for our stakeholders.”

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second half of 2026.

Operators need to optimise all drilling processes, including waste management. (Image source: Shutterstock)

As Gulf drilling activity scales, operators are rethinking waste management, says Pierre-Marie Hinden, UAE general manager, TWMA

In the pursuit of expanding oil and gas production across the Gulf, the question increasingly front of mind for many operators is how much more output can be achieved by improving operational efficiency, rather than simply adding more drilling activity.

That question is coming into sharper focus now as the UAE races toward expanding production capacity. ADNOC is leading the charge, accelerating toward its goal of reaching 5 million barrels per day production capacity by 2027 and potentially beyond if needed. And the UAE is not alone as Saudi Arabia continues to ramp up major offshore and unconventional gas developments, while operators across the wider region are expanding drilling campaigns with goals to increase operational capacity.

As Gulf states recover and aggressively rebuild from impacts of the conflict on energy assets, this momentum is expected to continue well through 2027 and beyond. This in turn is driving operators to look more closely at their operations to find efficiencies and recover value. Every operational decision is under increased pressure to maximise performance while minimising cost and, as a result, leading operators are beginning to challenge established practices and examine how every aspect of operations can be adjusted to improve performance.

That includes areas such as drilling waste management, an essential but often overlooked part of drilling operations, which if optimised, can unlock major cost, efficiency, safety and sustainability benefits.

Is traditional drilling waste management still fit for purpose?

Offshore, a typical approach to tackling drilling waste is skip and ship. Here, waste is collected offshore, loaded into skips, transported by vessel to shore and then processed and disposed of on land. It remains a familiar and compliant approach, but one that can also introduce operational complexity, logistical dependency, high emissions and significant hidden costs.

An alternative method is at-source treatment which in a lot of ways, substantially outperforms traditional approaches including across safety, cost, environmental and overall operational efficiency. Rather than transporting waste back onshore, thermal treatment technologies such as the RotoMill allow drill cuttings, slops and sludges to be processed directly at the wellsite. That means fewer vessel movements, fewer lifting operations and significantly reduced logistics requirements. At the same time, valuable base fluids can be recovered from drill cuttings and reused onsite.

To put this into perspective, since 2014, in collaboration with a major operator in the UAE, TWMA’s RotoMill has processed more than 600,000 tonnes of drilling waste, accumulated legacy waste and slop at source. Working with the operator across multiple fields has eliminated more than 70,000 km of transport, reducing carbon emissions by 50%, as well as significantly reducing handling and logistics requirements. Combined with the recovery of approximately US$78mn worth of base fluid for reuse, the total savings are in excess of US$200 mn.

As production ambitions and drilling activity continue to scale across the Gulf, but so do does attention on cost, efficiency and sustainability, case studies like this show what can be achieved by optimising every part of the operation.

What is the real cost of offshore operations?

While operators are increasingly taking a total cost of ownership (TCO) approach across the well lifecycle, there can still be a tendency to focus on upfront costs. But the reality is, what may appear a lower-cost solution on face value, can create wider operational inefficiencies and spend elsewhere.

Traditional skip and ship approaches, for example, may reduce costs at the rig site, but they can also increase vessel demand, fuel consumption and handling requirements and disposal costs. Predicting those knock-on effects is not always easy, and this is where specialist drilling waste management expertise, when brought into projects early, can help operators gain a clearer view of the full operational picture and what tailored solution works for their needs. That includes navigating relevant regulatory requirements, as well as understanding that offshore processing solutions can deliver savings of up to 60% compared to traditional skip and ship methods, or that for a typical 60-day operation, total costs for skip and ship can reach around US$1.24mn, compared to approximately US$510,000 for offshore processing.

Looking ahead, the ambitions of the region, as they always have been, are significant, and we see that through key operators’ production ambitions, as just one example. But scale and expansion is really only one part of the picture. Without doubling down on optimisation of all drilling processes, efficiency, cost and sustainability gains will be left on the table at a time when there is no room for anything but profitable growth.