Saudi Electricity says has Aramco support

Saudi Electricity said on Wednesday it was getting the support it required from Aramco, in response to a report that the utility needed the oil firm's help to avoid a repetition of last year's power cuts.

A document, authored by a Saudi Electricity technical committee and obtained by Reuters, said state-owned Aramco needed to invest in more gas exploration and fuel pipelines to avoid power outages.

The document said the transport of fuel on trucks from Aramco's refineries to power plants during the summer peak demand season was one of the biggest challenges facing the struggling utility firm.

"(Saudi Electricity) is getting full cooperation from Aramco ...and there is continuing coordination between Saudi Electricity and Saudi Aramco in various fields," Saudi Electricity Chief Executive Ali bin Saleh al-Barrak said in a statement to Reuters.

The company's vice-president for public relations, Abdusalam al-Yamni, said he could not immediately comment on the document when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday.

The committee also encouraged an early retirement scheme that would cut the total workforce by at least 17 % over the next five years, the document dated April 21 showed. It recommended Saudi Electricity consider reducing the proportion of Saudi nationals in its workforce, saying they were hurting productivity.

Barrak's statement made no reference to those recommendations.

The state-run Saudi Electricity, the Gulf's largest utility by market value, had to ration power last summer to firms in the Riyadh and Eastern provinces, the kingdom's main industrial hubs.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM