Aramco awards Abu Dhabi's NMDC Energy $763m in offshore work

Summary

• NMDC Energy received an Aramco award letter for three offshore projects worth 2.8 billion dirhams.
• The contractor's order book stood at 3.3 billion dirhams at the end of June 2026.
• The win lands after first-half net profit fell 57% despite 16% revenue growth.

The latest

Three new offshore engineering, procurement and construction projects worth 2.8 billion dirhams, about $763 million, have been awarded to Abu Dhabi-listed NMDC Energy by Saudi Aramco. The company said on Friday, 23 October 2026, that it had received the award letter and expects completion within 18 to 23 months. The award is more than double the value of its backlog at mid-year.

Details

• The award: NMDC Energy said it received an award letter from Saudi Aramco covering three new offshore engineering, procurement and construction projects with a combined value of 2.8 billion dirhams, equivalent to roughly $763 million. The company dated the disclosure Friday, 23 October 2026.
• The timeline: Work on the three projects is expected to be completed within 18 to 23 months, according to the company. NMDC Energy did not break the total value down by individual project, name the fields involved, or specify when execution begins.
• The order book: The contractor reported a project backlog of 3.3 billion dirhams at the end of June 2026. The Aramco award alone is worth close to double that figure, marking a significant reset of the company's forward workload heading into 2027.
• Earlier wins: The latest letter follows 2.2 billion dirhams of projects secured in the second quarter of 2026. Combined with the Aramco package, NMDC Energy has announced 5 billion dirhams of new work across the past two quarters.
• The earnings gap: First-half 2026 revenue reached 9.5 billion dirhams, up 16% year on year, according to the company's reported figures. Net profit moved the other way, falling 57% to 251 million dirhams — a margin squeeze the revenue growth did not offset.
• The company: NMDC Energy is a subsidiary of NMDC Group and listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Its 2024 initial public offering raised about 3.22 billion dirhams, one of the larger Abu Dhabi energy services listings of that year.
• The client: Saudi Aramco is the awarding party. The announcement came from the contractor's side, with no separate statement from Aramco accompanying it and no indication of which of the producer's offshore programmes the three projects fall under.
• The coverage: The National reported the award, citing the company's disclosure to the Abu Dhabi market. MT Newswires carried the same figure of 2.8 billion dirhams in contracts from Saudi Aramco.

Background

NMDC Energy builds offshore oil and gas infrastructure under engineering, procurement and construction contracts, where revenue is recognised across multi-year execution periods. Its order book is the standard measure of future workload, which is why a single award can reshape the outlook well before it reaches the income statement.

Between the lines

The contrast between the two sets of numbers is the story. Revenue rose 16% in the first half while net profit fell 57%, pointing to pressure on execution margins rather than on demand. An award worth nearly twice the end-June backlog strengthens the revenue line further, but it says nothing yet about profitability — the same volume-versus-margin question the first-half results raised remains open until the new work starts being recognised.

What's next

Watch NMDC Energy's third-quarter results for an updated backlog figure reflecting the Aramco award, and for whether margins recover from the first-half squeeze. The start date for execution on the three projects has not been announced.

Source: The National, MT Newswires