US, Saudi companies sign mega deals to diversify economy
Kingdom’s energy minister highlights chance to develop nation’s economy beyond oil
US and Saudi Arabian companies signed business deals worth tens of billions of dollars yesterday during a visit by President Donald Trump, as Riyadh seeks help to develop its economy beyond oil.
National oil firm Saudi Aramco said it signed $50 billion of agreements with US firms. energy minister Khalid Al Falih said deals involving all companies totalled over $200 billion, many of them designed to produce things in Saudi Arabia that had previously been imported.
Business leaders on both sides were keen to demonstrate their talks had been a success, so there was an element of showmanship in the huge numbers. Some deals had been announced previously; others were memorandums of understanding that would require further negotiations to materialise.
Nevertheless, the deals illustrated Saudi Arabia’s hunger for foreign capital and technology as it tries to reduce its dependence on oil exports.
“We want foreign companies to look at Saudi Arabia as a platform for exports to other markets,” Falih told the conference.
In March, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz toured Asia and his delegation signed similar agreements there.
Top Saudi economic policymakers, including the finance minister and head of the kingdom’ s main sovereign wealth fund, described investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia to a conference attended by dozens of US executives yesterday.
Among the deals signed yesterday, GE said it reached $15 billion of agreements involving almost $7 billion of goods and services from GE itself. They ranged from the power and health-care sectors to the oil and gas industry and mining.
Jacobs Engineering will form a joint venture with Aramco to manage business projects in the kingdom, and McDermott International will shift some of its ship fabrication facilities to a new shipbuilding complex which Aramco will build within Saudi Arabia.
Lockheed Martin said it would support the final assembly and completion of an estimated 150 S-70 Black Hawk utility helicopters in Saudi Arabia.