Australia Firm to Provide Consulting Services for Seawater Desal Project
Industrial engineering firm Worley has been awarded a framework agreement to carry out consulting services for a world-scale seawater desalination facility at NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s US$500 billion “smart city” on the Red Sea Coast.
Under the agreement, Worley will provide services for the development of facilities for water treatment, storage and distribution including seawater desalination, brine processing, pilot scale, testing, utility, offsite and storage facilities.
The Australia-based company will also provide brine beneficiation services to convert brine – the concentrated saltwater produced as a by-product of desalination – into marketable products such as gypsum, polyvinyl chloride, salt and magnesium.
Once operational, the desalination facility, which will be powered by low-carbon electricity, is expected to supply up to 2 million cubic metres per day of purified water.
The agreement was awarded by NEOM’s energy and water subsidiary, ENOWA.
The services will be carried out by Worley’s consulting business, Advisian.
“We are pleased that ENOWA has chosen Worley to support this first-of-its-kind seawater desalination project consistent with our purpose of delivering a more sustainable world,” said Chris Ashton, Chief Executive Officer of Worley.
NEOM, located in Tabuk Province, is one of several so-called giga-projects that Saudi Arabia is building as part of its 2030 masterplan to pivot the economy away from oil and gas towards more sustainable, private sector-driven industries.
The 26,500-square-kilometre business and logistics zone, slated for completion in 2025, will house ports, industrial plants, sports stadiums, green energy facilities and a hi-tech, 170-kilometre-long smart city dubbed The Line. NEOM will also be home to the Oxagon project, a new port city billed as the world’s largest floating structure.
Worley and NEOM are members of the Breakbulk Global Shipper Network, a worldwide network of shippers involved in the engineering, manufacturing and production of project cargo.
The role of Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects will be discussed by a panel of logistics professionals during a main stage session at Breakbulk Middle East 2023, taking place on 13-14 February at the Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE. Check out the event’s full programme here.
PHOTO: Mock-up of Oxagon. CREDIT: NEOM
