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Saudi Arabia Signs Agreement to Develop Aviation-Grade Titanium Alloy Value Chains

The Saudi Ministry of Investment signed on Monday an investment cooperation agreement with Tasnee and Boeing to explore the potential investment. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi Ministry of Investment signed on Monday an investment cooperation agreement with Tasnee and Boeing to explore the potential investment. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Signs Agreement to Develop Aviation-Grade Titanium Alloy Value Chains

The Saudi Ministry of Investment signed on Monday an investment cooperation agreement with Tasnee and Boeing to explore the potential investment. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi Ministry of Investment signed on Monday an investment cooperation agreement with Tasnee and Boeing to explore the potential investment. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Ministry of Investment signed on Monday an investment cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Tasnee and Boeing to explore the potential investment and development collaboration opportunities to advance the aviation-grade titanium alloy value chain in the Kingdom for mid and downstream applications.

Tasnee CEO and board member Mutlaq al-Morished stressed that the agreement aims to explore potential cooperation investment and development opportunities between the two companies to enhance the titanium value chain to serve intermediate industries.

Morished told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Ministry of Investment supports the two parties by facilitating their collaboration with the relevant government sectors and addressing the challenges.

He indicated that Tasnee is the only company in the Middle East that manufactures titanium "sponge," used in manufacturing aircraft, nuclear submarines, missiles, and satellites. It produces 15,500 tons annually, equivalent to 10 percent of global production.

The CEO added that the metal is strategic and contributes to achieving Vision 2030 aimed at further localizing technology for advanced industries that raise the competitiveness of the national product and boost the contribution of the private sector and non-oil exports to the gross domestic product.

The Advanced Metal Industries Cluster (AMIC) was established jointly by Tasnee and Cristal in 2014 with a mandate to develop the Titanium Value chain in the Kingdom.

AMIC has established the Upstream projects by setting up a Titanium Sponge plant in Yanbu Industrial City through a JV with Toho – Japan.

The company has established a titanium smelter plant in Jazan City for primary and downstream industries which are considered the world's largest, with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons of titanium slag and 250,000 tons of pig iron.

In 2021, Tasnee announced that the Titanium Ilmenite Smelter Plant is forecast to start trial operations in Q4 of 2021. The first batch was produced in early December of the same year.

Tasnee announced that after implementing all required modifications by Metso Outotec and the relevant contractors, the mechanical completion was achieved in 2021, followed by start-up preparations and heat-up of the furnace.

The furnace load will ramp up from the current 18MW to 30 MW by mid-January 2022. It is the first holding point planned to last 90 days, to optimize the operating parameters of the furnace.

The success of the operation run at the first holding point will then be followed by ramping the load up gradually to around 45MW (70 percent of design capacity) by the end of Q2 2022, the target load for the execution of the sustainable operation test.

The operation was targeted to achieve this milestone in Q4 2022, and the furnace would increase its load to a design capacity of 60 MW.

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US Energy Secretary Says Riyadh and Washington to Sign Civil Nuclear Agreement

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks at the press conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Photo: Turki al-Aqaili
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks at the press conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Photo: Turki al-Aqaili
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US Energy Secretary Says Riyadh and Washington to Sign Civil Nuclear Agreement

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks at the press conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Photo: Turki al-Aqaili
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks at the press conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Photo: Turki al-Aqaili

The United States and Saudi Arabia will sign a preliminary agreement on energy cooperation and civilian nuclear technology, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday.

Wright spoke at a press conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh where he arrived from the United Arab Emirates on Saturday as part of a regional tour that will also take him to Qatar.

His visit comes amid world economic turmoil over the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. But Wright said that these tariffs don’t seek to restrict trade, rather they aim for fair and reciprocal trade.

His visit also comes ahead of an expected visit by Trump to the Kingdom, the UAE and Qatar in May to consolidate relations.

The US Energy Secretary told journalists at the Saudi Energy Ministry that Riyadh and Washington were on a "pathway" to reaching an agreement to work together to better develop energy resources and energy infrastructure, in addition to mining cooperation, civilian nuclear technology and energy production.

Wright said further details over a memorandum detailing the energy cooperation between Riyadh and Washington would come later this year.

Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced last September that the Kingdom is working to develop peaceful uses for nuclear energy across various fields.

In his press conference on Sunday, Wright discussed the meetings he has held in Riyadh. There have “been very wide ranging dialogues for a day and a half now and they're going to continue. We've talked about energy in all aspects of energy. We've talked about mining, critical materials. We've talked about processing in industry. We've talked about climate change. We've talked about human lives and what drives their improvement and how best to achieve those ends,” he said.

On Saturday, Prince Abdulaziz met with Wright at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) where the US official was briefed on the Center's role in the fields of energy policy research and its transitions, climate change, sustainable transportation, and consultancy services, in addition to the development of models and analytical tools that contribute to finding solutions to current challenges in the energy sector. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation in energy research, exchange of expertise, and strengthening joint research efforts.

Wright said Sunday that he believed “Saudi Arabia will be one of the leading countries in investing in the United States. I think that's a win for the Kingdom here. It's a win for the United States. And for us, most importantly, it's a win for the working class and American citizens to have better job opportunities.”

He added that the “broader objectives” of the US and Saudi Arabia “are prosperity at home and peace abroad.”

Wright also said in response to a question by Asharq Al-Awsat that tariffs are part of Trump's economic agenda.

He said Trump is trying to grow the flow of goods outside the United States into other countries while sustaining imports and engagement with countries from around the world. “So that's a way you could describe this. Fair trade, not restricted trade, just fair trade, reciprocal trade.”

He added that the United States has seen a lot of its intensive industries, particularly energy, move outside of the country and be outsourced somewhere else. “Too many Americans have seen their job opportunities shift overseas.”

“So tariffs are also a way to give a nudge and encourage investment into our country, to make products in our country, to grow economic opportunity and prosperity in America.”