Saudi Arabia’s drive to develop its natural gas resources though new joint ventures in the upstream sector marks a new chapter in the economic history of Saudi Arabia.

This will open the doors to a new era of development for the Eastern Province, which will be comparable to the transformation of the socio-economic life in the region witnessed in the wake of oil discovery more than half a century ago.
This is the view expressed by Khalid Abdulrahman Al Abdulkarim, Executive Director of Al Abdulkarim Group and a member of the Board of Directors of the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr. Al Abdulkarim says that the new gas projects have raised new hopes and aspirations not only among people in general, but also the local business community.
Al Abdulkarim, a leading figure in the Saudi Business Community, has entered business following a distinguished academic career, having secured Master of Business Administration from the University of Portland State, US.
For the business community, these gas projects, Al Abdulkarim stresses, have come as both a challenge and an opportunity. He explains: “The inflow of foreign investments into this sector in the four new major projects (and their multiplier effect) will generate big business opportunities for construction, supply of equipment and a whole spectrum of services.
Saudi business can get a major part of the cake, especially because Saudi Aramco has been of late going all-out to source their requirements from domestic sources. However, this is a challenge too for suppliers. The new projects involve hi-tech operations, which in effect means the demand is for products and services of top quality and of modern technology, backed by prompt servicing. If we accept the challenge, we grab the opportunities.” 
Al Abdulkarim group has 30 years of experience in dealing with oil, gas and petrochemicals and what was started as a simple trading outfit has grown substantially to become one of the top 100 Saudi Companies. The group is also recognized as one of the top 10 vendors of Saudi Aramco, with a creditable record.
A feature of its operations is that it has vast warehouse space and large inventory of electrical, telecom and instrumentation products as well as pipes, valves and fittings. These inventories support the company’s blanket warehousing agreements with Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC).
Headquartered in Dammam AKTE  has developed a network of branches, showrooms and warehouses in Al Khobar, Jubail, Riyadh, Jeddah, Yanbu and Dammam. With 200,000 sq ft of covered warehouse space and an additional 100,000 sq ft of paved storage area and new showrooms, AKTE carries a substantial inventory of electrical, telecommunication and instrumentation items and pipes, valves and fittings.
These inventories support AKTE’s blanket and warehousing agreements with Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) affiliates. In addition, these stocks fulfill the urgent supply requirements of many of the key contractors such as Parsons, Bechtel, Snamprogetti, Techint, JGC, AMEC-BKW, Technip, Suedrohrbau etc. engaged in the development of the Kingdom’s petroleum, petrochemical and other industrial sectors.
AKTE has contributed to the tremendous growth of industrial infrastructure in the Kingdom and GCC countries by introducing advanced technology products and systems from its worldwide principals. The world-renowned multinational companies it represents include 3M, Thomas & Betts, Graybar and General Electric. The group has an engineering systems division named Naizak, which appears to be its thrust area for IT related software and automation, and another one called the East-West Trading International, which has branch offices in the neighboring countries. 
Naizak, he is confident, has a particularly big potential to serve Saudi Arabia’s new gas projects: “From project conception to completion, we have the resources to handle automation projects of all sizes. We provide a mixture of consulting engineering, project management, and construction services to provide our clients with complete turnkey control system solutions. Cardinal to our success is the fact that we regard Automation as a solution and not a technology. With 50 automation engineers on staff, we are the solid choice for all Control System requirements”.
Elaborating this point, Mr. Al Abdulkarim mentioned at least six following areas where Naizak could extend its support to the new projects:
q Optimising of existing facilities: in several instances installed assets could be optimized through technologies such as Advance Process Control (APC) to produce more at consistent recovery levels, thereby reducing the need for capital expansions.
q Reduction of operating costs: Expansions of existing plants would mean an increase in operating expenses. These costs can often become uncontrollable. Technologies such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Advanced Planning Systems (APS) could assist companies to ensure that costs are managed in the process.
q Optimised Equipment Maintenance: The extension of equipment life can become vital in such as expansion process. Maintenance Management Systems (MMS) ensures that best practices are followed in order to control maintenance expenditure as well as ensuring that assets are utilised effectively to ultimately use them to their full potential.
q Access to real-time performance measures: In order to manage the diverse and complex mixture of equipment, materials, personnel and processes to support as gas producing facility access to real-time performance information is crucial.
q Ensure consistent operation through automation: The objective of any    production facility is to perform well consistently. Control systems can contribute significantly to reduce variability in such a facility.
q Business Intelligence, Data Management Systems, Laboratory information Management Systems, Enterprise Information Portal, Email Archiving, E-Learning, Process Simulation, Management Systems and SAP Training.
“In the event of constructing a new facility utilizing these systems  in an integrated environment from the start will ensure optimal usage and costs from day one Naizak Global Engineering Systems being a ‘Best of Breed’ solutions provider has been implementing these systems and offering support services very successfully throughout the region for the last couple of years”. He added that the products and solutions the company offers include date storage systems, e-learning software, enterprise applications, industrial solutions and telecommunications hardware, in addition to innovative data protection and consultancy services. It has affiliation with partners such as Hitachi Data Systems, Fujitsu-Siemens Computers and AST Group.
Al Abdulkarim Group and other companies offering similar IT services will have key role to play in the proposed new projects in the gas sector.