EIL eyes pipeline, storage projects in Saudi Arabia, UAE | Today’s news

New Delhi: State-run Engineers India Ltd (EIL) is looking for opportunities to develop pipelines and oil pipelines and strategic oil reserves in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as both countries plan to expand energy infrastructure to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and add storage capacity, chairman and managing director Atul Gupta said.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Gupta said the proposed pipeline projects in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates could be worth around $1 billion with a tentative gestation period of two to three years.

“They (UAE and Saudi Arabia) are now planning some infrastructure to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. We are also focusing on those infrastructure projects… We have already shown our interest that we can speed up the process of creating new infrastructure,” he said.

“We anticipate that in all of these countries there should be more than $1 billion of investment combined for immediate infrastructure that they can focus on for two to three years because the gestation period for these pipelines is two to three years,” Gupta added.

Project Management Consultancy (PMC) and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) plans and implements long-distance pipelines for the transportation of crude oil and petroleum products.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia currently have two pipelines to supply oil to the ports. Two pipelines – the 360 ​​km strategic Habshan-Fujairah pipeline operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in the UAE with a capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) that flows into the Gulf of Oman; and the 1,200 km east-west operated 5 mbpd Saudi Aramco pipeline, which offers access to the Red Sea, played a key role in global oil supply after the Strait of Hormuz was closed to shipping.

However, Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline has come under recent attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels, severely disrupting the country’s oil exports. The two countries are now seeking to expand their pipeline networks to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage that normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and has remained closed since the start of the US-Iran war on February 28.

In May this year, the UAE government announced that it would expand its ability to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and accelerate the construction of a new pipeline to double its export capacity through the port of Fujairah by 2027.

Also in July, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia was considering expanding the capacity of its pipeline to the western coast of the Red Sea, allowing the kingdom and possibly its neighbors to transport more oil without crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

In February this year, Engineers India set up an office in Saudi Arabia. It already has an office in the United Arab Emirates. An EIL statement after Friday’s annual general meeting said: “EIL has also strengthened its presence in the Middle East with the commissioning of its office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, supported by a long-term service agreement in the Kingdom with Saudi Aramco. The company continues to develop projects and commitments across the country, Guyana, UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Kuwait and strengthening EIL’s global strategy in Mongolia and other international markets.”

EIL said international business was the key driver of growth in FY26, with overseas consulting also contributing ₹4,929 crore, or nearly 62% of the new business secured by the company.