Recently, CNOOC Engineering confirmed winning the EPC general contract for the redevelopment of Qatar Energy's Maydan Mahzam oil field. This old oil field located in the northeast waters of Qatar has been continuously exploited for over 60 years since its commissioning in 1965. The subsea pipelines and wellhead platforms are severely aging, and Qatar Energy has launched a redevelopment project with a total investment of 4 to 5 billion US dollars for this purpose. The Package 2 section won by CNOOC Engineering covers the entire process of general contracting for the design, procurement, construction, and offshore installation of over 100 kilometers of submarine pipelines, submarine cables, and umbilical cables. Combined with the previously won BH large-scale offshore project, CNOOC Engineering has accumulated a total contract amount of over 50 billion yuan in the Middle East region in the past three years.

Transition from subcontractor to general contractor identity

The Middle East offshore market was once monopolized by European and American companies for a long time, and most Chinese companies could only undertake subcontracting, module construction, and pipeline construction. CNOOC Engineering was able to successfully win two large-scale offshore projects in Qatar, BH and MM, thanks to its complete EPCI integration capabilities. From design, material procurement, onshore module construction, to offshore floating crane installation, subsea pipeline laying, and offshore commissioning, the entire chain is interconnected. In 2025, PowerChina signed an EPC general contract for the 2.1 gigawatts and 7.75 gigawatts of time storage project in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with a contract amount of approximately 13.962 billion yuan. China Energy Engineering Corporation signed three new energy general contracting contracts with Saudi Arabia in the same year, totaling approximately 19.554 billion yuan. Chinese enterprises export complete solution capabilities from survey and design, equipment integration to construction delivery.

Manufacturing capacity takes root with orders

Signing the general contract is just the first step, the real test is whether we can produce the things and deliver them on time. In October 2025, the second phase of CITIC Bosat Jeddah factory was completed, and the local annual delivery capacity jumped to 15 GW, accumulating over 15 GW of photovoltaic project orders in the Middle East region. Armaton is advancing a 500000 ton photovoltaic glass production line project in the United Arab Emirates, with a planned total investment of 240 million US dollars. The implementation of production capacity in areas such as photovoltaic brackets, photovoltaic glass, and energy storage cells means that the role of Chinese enterprises has shifted from suppliers to a part of the local industrial chain. Keywords: the Belt and Road news network, new energy, oil and gas

Double directional binding of capital and deep cooperation

By 2025, the total investment scale of the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council in China will reach 20 billion to 25 billion US dollars, a significant increase compared to 2024. Middle Eastern sovereign funds account for 40% to 50% of the net increase in northbound funds, with holding periods generally exceeding three years. The total proportion of Gulf capital's investment in China's primary and secondary markets is close to half of China's actual utilization of foreign capital under certain criteria. The investment of the UAE sovereign fund in new energy vehicles, power batteries, artificial intelligence and other fields accounts for more than 50% of the Gulf's total investment in China. The cost of bidirectional binding is the hard constraint of localization requirements. Saudi Nitaqat's labor policy requires that the proportion of Chinese local employees cannot exceed 40%. The energy transition in the Middle East is a structural change that requires a decade or even longer to observe, and the position of Chinese companies in this market has shifted from spectators to one of the market makers.Editor/Gao Xue