OREANDA-NEWS. May 27, 2011. State-run engineering consultancy firm Engineers India Ltd (EIL) is tying up with a major Saudi Arabian group to jointly bid for contracts in the West Asian country that is dominated by US and European majors. This is part of a makeover plan that will see the firm turn into a one-stop conceptto-commissioning agency for large industrial projects, company chairman A K Purwaha told TOI on Thursday. He, however, declined to identify the group.

“Our focus in 2011-12 will be overseas. We will take partnership, joint venture or consortium route as needed to crack those markets. We have a project in Venezuela. We want to become a complete LSTK (lump sum turnkey) contractor from being a consultant,” Purwaha said. EIL sees Saudi Arabia offering many opportunities since the refineries there are old and going in for expansion and refurbishment. The country is also planning petrochemicals capacity. EIL is also tapping Oman, and other oil-producing countries in the region. EIL has orders worth Rs 7,500 crore.

 Its net profit rose 20% to Rs 523 crore in 2010-11 from Rs 436 crore in 2009-2010. The company is diversifying into non-oil portfolio as well. “We have returned to fertilizer after many years and are doing a project for

the JP group. We are looking at water and waste management, city gas distribution, nuclear power, coal-to-liquid projects and steel plants,” Purwaha said.

The company is looking at picking up stake in refinery or petrochemicals projects, where it becomes a consultant or contractor. It has tied up with Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation for jointly bidding for gas distribution networks in cities across the country.