Saudi signs $50b deals in oil, gas and infrastructure

Saudi Arabia signed deals worth more than $50 billion in oil, gas, infrastructure and other sectors at an investment conference in Riyadh on Tuesday, officials there said.

Details were announced at the Future Investment Initiative, held in Riyadh in the face of boycotts by Western political figures, international bankers and executives that were prompted by the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Companies involved in the deals included commodities trader Trafigura, Total, Hyundai, Norinco, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes, state television said. Swiss-based Trafigura said it had signed a deal for a joint venture partnership with Riyadh-based Modern Mining Holding Co. The multi-billion dollar venture would develop a copper, zinc and lead integrated smelting and refining complex in Ras Al-Khair Mineral City, Trafigura said. This was part of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 to develop its mining sector and plug the “midstream”, it added.