By Abiola Olawale
Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Aramco), one of the world’s leading oil and gas giants, has signed 34 preliminary agreements with major United States companies, potentially worth up to $90 billion.
Announced during US President Donald Trump’s high-profile Gulf tour, these deals span energy, artificial intelligence (AI), and industrial innovation.
The agreements, unveiled at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, involve industry heavyweights like Nvidia, ExxonMobil, Amazon, NextDecade, and Sempra.
“Our US-related activities have evolved over the decades, and now include multi-disciplinary R&D [research and development], the Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, start-up investments, potential collaborations in LNG, and ongoing procurement”, Aramco president and chief executive Amin H. Nasser said.
“As Aramco pursues an ambitious value-driven growth strategy, we believe that aligning with world-class partners supports further development of our operations, strategic diversification of our portfolio, industrial innovation, and ongoing capability development within the Kingdom,” he added.
A breakdown of the deals showed that Aramco signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nvidia to develop advanced industrial AI infrastructure, including an AI Hub, an engineering and robotics centre, and workforce training programs.
With ExxonMobil Collaboration, the MoU focuses on upgrading the SAMREF refinery into an integrated petrochemical complex, enhancing production capabilities and efficiency.
Also, Aramco penned MoUs with NextDecade and Sempra to secure approximately 6.2 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG), reinforcing its growing presence in the global LNG market.
Additionally, a $3.4 billion expansion of Aramco’s Motiva refinery in Texas, the largest fuel-making plant in the U.S.
Aramco also signed an agreement with Australia’s Woodside Energy to explore a potential stake in a $17.5 billion Louisiana LNG project, further diversifying its energy portfolio.
With Afton Chemical, Aramco signed MOUs “related to development and supply of chemical fuel additives in pipelines and retail fuel offerings”, it said.
On technology and innovation, Aramco signed an MOU with NVIDIA Corp. on “developing advanced Industrial AI computing infrastructure, establishing an AI Hub and AI Enterprise platforms, an Engineering and Robotics Center of Excellence, training and upskilling, and collaborating with NVIDIA’s startup ecosystem”.
A non-binding framework agreement has been signed with Amazon.com Inc. on digital transformation and lower-carbon initiatives.
Another MOU with Qualcomm “aims to explore entry into a strategic collaboration that will focus on key digital transformation use cases, leveraging Aramco Digital’s 450 MHz 5G industrial network to connect intelligent edge devices with on-device AI capabilities, including smartphones, rugged industrial devices, robots, drones, cameras, sensors, and other IoT [Internet of Things] devices”.
Aramco also signed MOUs to extend existing relationships with suppliers Air Products, Baker Hughes, Emerson, Flowserve, GE Vernova, Halliburton, Helmerich & Payne, Honeywell, KBR, McDermott, Nabors, NESR, NOV, SLB, Weatherford and Valaris.
