Saudi Aramco inks procurement deal with Yokogawa
17 Oct 2012
Riyadh – Saudi Aramco has signed a corporate procurement agreement (CPA) with Yokogawa: a deal covering equipment supply, project management, engineering, spare parts, and maintenance services.
The deal is intended to simplify the process by which Saudi Aramco purchases process automation equipment from Yokogawa, which is the first automation vendor to sign such an agreement with Saudi Aramco.
Yokogawa has doubled the size of its facilities in the Dhahran Techno-Valley. In addition to engineering and project execution capabilities, the expanded facilities allow Yokogawa to manufacture specific components of its control systems and to strengthen its R&D activities.
Under the Saudi government’s Nitaqat Program, Yokogawa is in the top ‘platinum Saudization’ tier. The current workforce of 300 at Yokogawa Saudi Arabia includes a large female engineering team, the vendor pointed out. This team supports not only Saudi projects but also projects in other GCC countries.
Yokogawa said it had executed many process automation projects in Saudi Arabia and has developed the capabilities of many Saudi engineers and technicians by deploying them in every facet of project execution.
Since April 2007, Yokogawa has been providing a one-year graduate engineer training programme and shorter internship programs that are specially tailored to the needs of the Saudi job market, targeting recent graduates and students of Saudi universities and colleges.
Around 130 Saudi trainees have participated in these programmes, which have included visits to Yokogawa global engineering centres in Japan, Singapore, and The Netherlands, Yokogawa said.
