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Aramco Announces Expansion of its Flagship Localization Program

Saudi Aramco announced the expansion of its flagship program to increase local content and boost domestic supply chains. (Aramco)
Saudi Aramco announced the expansion of its flagship program to increase local content and boost domestic supply chains. (Aramco)
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Aramco Announces Expansion of its Flagship Localization Program

Saudi Aramco announced the expansion of its flagship program to increase local content and boost domestic supply chains. (Aramco)
Saudi Aramco announced the expansion of its flagship program to increase local content and boost domestic supply chains. (Aramco)

Saudi Aramco announced on Monday the expansion of its flagship program to increase local content and boost domestic supply chains.

It is a significant milestone in the company’s In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) program, which marks its fifth anniversary on December 1, said the oil giant in a statement.

The expansion includes plans for new international partnerships and the establishing of companies through an Industrial Investment Program (IIP), which is linked to the development of Aramco's business.

Aramco has signed Memorandums of Understanding with Shell & AMG Recycling BV (AMG) from the Netherlands; Chinese firms Suzhou XDM, Shen Gong, Xinfoo and SUPCON; and Posco from South Korea.

These strategic collaborations pave the way for the launch of new businesses across multiple innovative growth sectors, including steel plate manufacturing, industrial 3D printing, digital equipment manufacturing, energy management and control; catalyst manufacturing and recycling, and advanced chip and smart sensor manufacturing.

“These new collaborations reflect Aramco’s commitment to increasing the company’s reliability and operational efficiency, as well as its commitment to further enhancing the Kingdom’s commercial ecosystem and increasing employment and development opportunities for talented Saudis,” said the statement.

Since IKTVA’s launch, Aramco’s local content index has increased from 35% at the end of 2015 to 56%.

Aramco’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Amin Nasser said: “Today’s announcement is a step change in Aramco’s pioneering IKTVA program. which was launched in 2015. Despite the uncertainties surrounding the global economy, we have sustained our focus on our long-term goals to enable growth and development for a thriving ecosystem and a more diversified Saudi economy.

“These new partnerships will contribute to advancing innovation, sustainability and enhance the scale of reliability in our business ecosystem and, in addition, benefit companies operating in the Kingdom's vast energy and chemicals sector.

“These partnerships will also have a strong focus on new technologies, by maximizing our investments in non-metallic materials and the circular carbon economy, as well as the development of talented Saudis in communities where we operate,” he stated.

Aramco’s Senior Vice President of Technical Services, Ahmad Al-Saadi said: “Aramco has a long history of supporting the local business ecosystem. Our IKTVA program is a manifestation of our commitment to this and the resulting investments, either directly by Aramco or indirectly by suppliers, have promoted localization, contributed to Aramco’s supply chain resilience and enhanced Saudi Arabia’s economic growth.

“Our planned partnerships will continue this journey and advance the Kingdom’s economic progress. We intend to act as an enabler, supporting the growth of national champions. Today we are expanding our flagship program, and expect more partnerships in the future,” he added.

Saudi Aramco has concluded MoUs with the following companies:

- POSCO: an agreement to collaborate on evaluating the feasibility of constructing an integrated steel plate manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia.

- Suzhou XDM 3D Printing Company Ltd: an agreement to collaborate on industrial 3D printing technologies and development in Saudi Arabia.

- SHEN GONG New Materials (Guang Zhou) Co. Ltd: an agreement to focus on developing control systems technologies for LED lighting, energy management and intelligent control.

- XINFOO Sensor Technology Company Limited: an agreement to explore opportunities in chip manufacturing and related technologies.

- Shell & AMG Recycling B.V.: an agreement to explore collaboration to develop plans for a state-of-the-art regional hub for the recycling of gasification ash and reclamation of spent catalyst, in addition to providing sustainable solutions.

- Zhejiang SUPCON Technology Co., Ltd: an agreement to explore potential joint investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia for the services and manufacturing value chain.

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World Shares Retreat After Trump’s Order Imposing New Tariffs on 68 Countries and the EU 

Containers are piled up in a cargo terminal in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP)
Containers are piled up in a cargo terminal in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP)
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World Shares Retreat After Trump’s Order Imposing New Tariffs on 68 Countries and the EU 

Containers are piled up in a cargo terminal in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP)
Containers are piled up in a cargo terminal in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP)

World shares retreated Friday following choppy trading on Wall Street that saw more losses and as investors assess President Donald Trump's order imposing new tariffs on 68 countries and the European Union starting in seven days.

Trump’s order, which pushed back the tariff deadline earlier set on Aug. 1, has injected a new dose of uncertainty in an already uncertain process.

In early European trading, Germany's Dax fell 1.5% to 23,697.31. Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.7% to 9,068.97. In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 1.6% to 7,647.56.

The future for S&P 500 was down 0.8% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was also 0.8% lower.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.7 % to 40,799.60 while South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 3.9% to 3,119.41.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 1.1% to 24,507.81, while the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.4% to 3,559.95.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 shed 0.9% to 8,662, India’s BSE Sensex lost 0.4% to 80,837.19 and Taiwan’s TAIEX slid 0.5% to 23,434.38.

“Trump’s new tariff directive, signed behind closed doors just ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline, slaps a new floor under global trade costs: a 10% minimum rate for nearly all partners, with surcharges of 15% or higher for surplus nations,” with Canada drawing particular ire, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

“This wasn’t just an update — it was a structural rewrite. The average US tariff jumps from 13.3% to 15.2%, a seismic shift from the 2.3% average before Trump retook office. This reshapes the cost calculus for everything from semiconductors to copper pipes,” he added.

Benjamin Picton, senior market strategist at Rabo Bank, said in a commentary about the US tariffs: “The USA is cherry-picking high value-add industry for its own economy while forcing trading partners to grant preferential market access for its exports and supply it with cheap imports. Make no mistake, this is imperial trade.”

On Wall Street on Thursday, stocks capped the trading day with more losses after an early big tech rally faded and a health care sector pullback led the market lower.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, its third straight decline. The benchmark index, which is just below the record high it set Monday, notched a 2.2% gain for the month of July and is up 7.8% so far this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite closed less than 0.1% lower.

Roughly 70% of stocks in the S&P 500 lost ground, with health care companies accounting for the biggest drag on the market.

Health care stocks sank after the White House released letters asking big pharmaceutical companies to cut prices and make other changes in the next 60 days. Eli Lilly & Co. fell 2.6%, UnitedHealth Group slid 6.2% and Bristol-Myers Squibb dropped 5.8%.

Gains by some big technology stocks with hefty values helped temper the impact of the broader market’s decline.

Meta Platforms surged 11.3% after the parent company of Facebook and Instagram crushed Wall Street’s sales and profit targets even as the company continues to pour billions of dollars into artificial intelligence.

Microsoft climbed 3.9% after posting better results than analysts expected. The software pioneer also gave investors an encouraging update on its Azure cloud computing platform, which is a centerpiece of the company’s artificial intelligence efforts.

Big Tech companies have regularly been the driving force behind much of the market’s gains over enthusiasm for the future of artificial intelligence.

In other dealings Friday, US benchmark crude oil added 15 cents to $69.41 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, also rose 15 cents to $71.85 per barrel.

The US dollar fell to 150.55 Japanese yen from 150.67 yen. The euro rose to $1.1419 from $1.1421.