The In-Kingdom Total Value Add, or IKTVA, has kicked off on Monday in Dhahran, highlighting the oil giant’s role in boosting local opportunities in Saudi Arabia. 

The three-day forum, held at the Dhahran Expo Center in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province, will feature opportunities for businesses who are “committed to boosting local content within the Saudi energy economy.”

Read more: Saudi Aramco balances competing priorities as IKTVA enters 6th year

Launched in 2015, the IKTVA program set out Aramco’s drive to increase domestic value creation as part of the Kingdom’s ambitious economic transformation objectives.

“The most important measurement of success is the impact that IKTVA is having on people’s lives; creating jobs, encouraging learning, expanding career options, and enhancing the Saudi business environment,” according to the event’s website. 

The event ends on Jan. 26.

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7:42 GMT — Aramco has signed seven agreements with international companies to boost localization of supply chain.

The companies include Schlumberger, Larsen and Toubro, Sutherland, Honeywell, and alfanar.

Read more: Oil giant Aramco signs 50 agreements during 6th iktva forum

7:42 GMT — Aramco chairman and the governor of the Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan said local content in Aramco’s supply chain has increased from 35 percent to almost 60 percent since the IKTVA program was launched in 2015.

“For the many local and international participants, IKTVA is creating new and expanded business and investment opportunities in the Kingdom, including opportunities beyond petroleum,” he added.

The program has also helped Aramco boost its Saudization efforts, increasing employment of locals to 50 percent, or one of every four employee in the oil giant.

The rate of female employment in Aramco’s supply chain has more than doubled as well, the chairman said.

7:28 GMT — Saudi Arabia will establish a localization committee for the energy sector “soon,” the Kingdom’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told the forum.

He said this committee will ensure a smooth implementation of efforts to achieve the Kingdom’s localization goal.

7:04 GMT — Aramco’s CEO Amin Nasser opened the event with a keynote speech on the importance of IKTVA, especially amid the global energy transition. 

He said oil and gas will remain essential despite the global energy transition, highlighting a “lack of investments” in the sector that already led to signs of energy crisis in some parts of the world. 

“And to ‘walk the talk’ of words like ‘sustainability’ and ‘reliability’ and ‘responsibility’ – you have to back that up with investment,” he added.

2022 iktva award winners:

Highest overall iktva performance

• Services sector: Schlumberger Middle East
• Construction sector: C.A.T International
• Manufacturing sector: Alkhorayef Petroleum

Best in training and development                                 

• Halliburton

Best in supplier development                                         

• Baker Hughes

Best in Saudization

• Manufacturing sector: ArcelorMittal
• Services sector: Arabian Drilling Company

Best in female employment                                             

• Tamimi Global

Best in exports

• Manufacturing sector: Al-Babtain Power and Telecommunication
• Services sector: Saudi Aramco Nabors Drilling