FLUOR Corporation has been awarded a contract by a joint venture comprising Ma’aden and Alcoa to provide engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services for an automotive sheet facility at Ras Al Khair in Saudi Arabia.

Fluor’s scope of work includes designing, constructing and commissioning the plant, which will have the capability to produce a range of products suitable for further downstream manufacturing in the aluminium complex.

These products include automotive heat-treated and non-heat-treated sheet, building and construction sheet and foil stock sheet. “We are pleased to continue our relationship with Ma’aden and Alcoa to support the development of their aluminium complex in Saudi Arabia,” said Rick Koumouris, head of Fluor’s mining and metals business.

“This new manufacturing facility will help meet the global automotive industry’s growing demands for new, lighter materials.”

Once complete, the automotive sheet facility will produce lightweight aluminium to be used in vehicle manufacturing. The facility is part of the Ma’aden-Alcoa aluminium complex that is currently under development in Saudi Arabia. The facilities, which include a mine, alumina refinery, aluminium smelter and rolling mill, will be one of the largest and most efficient aluminium complexes in the world.