Jubail & Yanbu

Utility lifeline of Jubail & Yanbu

A Marafiq marine works project in Yanbu, in Saudi Arabia

Headquartered in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia, Marafiq provides utility services to the industrial, commercial and residential customers in the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia. The company has a regional office in Yanbu and a representative office in Riyadh.

As a private power and water utility company, it carries out generation, transmission and distribution of power; production and distribution of potable and process water from seawater; and supply of seawater for cooling for industries. Marafiq also conducts treatment of sanitary and industrial wastewater and undertakes the operation, maintenance, management, expansion and construction of seawater cooling systems, desalinated and treated water systems, sanitary and industrial wastewater systems and electric power systems.

Marafiq’s foundations were laid in the 1970s when the Saudi government established the Royal Commission to develop the two industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu. The objective was to diversify the national economy and reduce the kingdom’s reliance on its oil revenue by providing the requisite infrastructure and facilities for the establishment of primary, secondary and support industries.

The Royal Commission established the power and water infrastructure in Jubail and Yanbu, comprising a power station in Yanbu, seawater cooling facilities, desalination plants and wastewater treatment plants. By 1999 the ball was set rolling to privatise these utilities. Council of Ministers Decision 57 of 11 July 1999 defined the charter of a new private utility company, leading to the establishment of Marafiq by Royal Decree in October 2000. All the utility assets run by the Royal Commission were transferred to Marafiq, and the new company started operating commercially on 1 January 2003.

A vertically integrated structure, compliance with quality management system and efficient shareholding structure have strengthened the company’s business, even as regulatory nature of its operations could limit its growth. Nevertheless, the company could benefit from growing energy and water market and new industrial developments, said GlobalData in a report.

The new industrial developments of Jubail II and Yanbu II present new growth avenues to Marafiq. These two cities are growing at a rapid pace and hence, the company is also planning to further diversify or expand its operations.

On the company’s website, Saud Bin Abdullah Bin Thunnayan Al-Saud, the chairman of Marafiq, said: “The power and water industry plays a key role in Saudi Arabia’s national development strategy. With an annual growth rate target of 7.5 per cent, the value of the electricity, gas and water sector is set to grow to more than SR21 billion ($6 billion) in the next few years, accounting for almost 2 per cent of the gross domestic product.”

“As the first private integrated power and water utility company in the kingdom, Marafiq finds itself  spearheading  the national drive to privatise public enterprises that are economically viable and sustainable. In particular, it supports the national development plan of providing opportunities to finance, operate and maintain utility services in the power and water sector.

“Marafiq is the utility lifeline to the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu. These two cities are a beacon of light on the kingdom’s journey of national economic development and privatisation.

“In a relatively short space of time, Marafiq has succeeded admirably in laying a solid foundation as a private enterprise with a customer-focused approach. It can look forward with confidence to continue building on its strong foundation of competitiveness, and to realise its vision to be the preferred supplier of utility services in the kingdom,” he added.