Where Gulf infrastructure money went in 2026

The Gulf kept building in 2026. Contracts worth $204.1 billion were awarded across the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in the first nine months of the year, 2.5% more than the $199.1 billion of the same months in 2025, according to Kamco Invest’s analysis of MEED Projects data.¹ The first quarter, at $97.9 billion, was the largest of the eight quarters in Kamco’s series. Awards then eased to $58.7 billion in the second quarter and $47.4 billion in the third (Exhibit 1). Fourth-quarter awards of $60.7 billion would take 2026 past the $264.7 billion awarded in 2025; the same quarter last year brought $65.6 billion.¹

With October nearly over, two questions matter to contractors, suppliers, and investors: where did the year’s money go, and what is still due before the year ends? This article looks at the sectors that took the awards, at Qatar’s own program, and at the contracts and budgets due in November and December.

Where the money went: Energy, chemicals, and construction

Energy led the year’s awards. In the third quarter, gas, oil, and chemical projects together took $23.3 billion, or 49% of the $47.4 billion awarded across the region (Exhibit 2). Gas and chemicals were the two sectors that grew on a year earlier: gas awards rose 59.9% to $13.5 billion, and chemical awards grew nearly fivefold, from $750 million to $3.5 billion.¹ In one regional tally, September’s largest disclosed award was SABIC Agri-Nutrients’ $3.5 billion fertilizer complex in Saudi Arabia, which will raise the company’s urea capacity from about 4.8 million to 7.4 million tonnes a year.²

The national energy companies set the pace. Saudi Aramco has committed $50 billion to $55 billion of capital spending for 2026 and had awarded $12.3 billion of upstream oil and gas contracts by early October, the largest share for the Dorra gas field.¹ The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) plans to direct $54.4 billion of its $150 billion five-year capital budget to new contract awards between 2026 and 2028, 70% of it upstream.³ The flow has continued into the fourth quarter: in late October, NMDC Energy announced offshore work from Aramco worth AED 2.8 billion ($763 million).⁴

Construction remained the largest single sector, at $14.8 billion in the third quarter, and Saudi construction awards grew 7.6% to $9.2 billion. Saudi Arabia took $24.4 billion of the quarter’s awards and the UAE $15.6 billion, together 84% of the total, and Saudi awards for the first nine months reached $73.4 billion.¹ Kamco attributes the slower third quarter to the conflict in the region and its effect on energy exports and trade routes.¹ In smaller markets, one large package can shape a whole quarter, as Qatar’s figures show.

Reading contract award data

Award figures measure the value of contracts signed in a period, not money spent; payments follow over the years of design and construction. The figures for earlier quarters are revised as MEED Projects updates its records: Kamco first reported the GCC’s first quarter of 2026 at $61.2 billion in April, then at $79.6 billion in July, and at $97.9 billion in October.^{5, 3, 1} We use the October series throughout. A letter of award can also precede the signed contract, as with the Maydan Mahzam project described below.

Qatar: LNG, offshore oil, and a steady public works program

Qatar’s awards follow its energy projects. For the first quarter, Kamco first reported $8.8 billion of contracts awarded in Qatar, 62.1% more than a year earlier and since revised to $9.3 billion, led by $8.2 billion in the gas sector for two new liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing trains with a combined capacity of 16 million tonnes a year.^{5, 3} In the third quarter, Qatar’s awards rose 76.1% from the second quarter to $5.2 billion, with $5.0 billion in the oil sector; Qatar and Bahrain were the only GCC markets to grow on the previous quarter.¹ In September, QatarEnergy selected contractors for the two main packages of its Maydan Mahzam offshore oil field redevelopment, which MEED estimates at $4 billion to $5 billion.⁶ The contractor for the first package confirmed its letter of award on September 15 and expected to sign the definitive contract in October.⁷

Digital infrastructure and public works add to the flow. In September, MEEZA awarded a contract worth more than QAR 500 million to build a new data center, part of its expansion to meet demand from cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).⁸ In October, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) awarded three road and infrastructure contracts worth more than QAR 1.1 billion to local contractors, in Wadi Al-Banat, Al-Sheehaniya, and Umm Slal Ali.⁹ Data centers are a regional theme as well: MEED Projects tracks more than 174 active and planned data center projects across the GCC, worth more than $93 billion.¹

The state budget underpins this activity. Qatar’s 2026 budget sets QAR 62.8 billion for major capital projects, 28% of total spending of QAR 220.8 billion. The government procurement plan lists 4,464 tenders worth more than QAR 70 billion, including QAR 49 billion of planned tenders from Ashghal and QAR 7.2 billion from the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa).¹⁰ Local companies won QAR 4.1 billion of the QAR 4.4 billion of government tenders awarded in the second quarter, 93% of the total.¹¹

November and December: The awards and budgets to watch

The pipeline behind these awards is deep. MEED Projects counts $2.05 trillion of planned projects across the GCC that have not yet been awarded, about ten times the awards of the first nine months. Saudi Arabia accounts for 49.7% of it, the UAE for 26.4%, and Qatar for $99.0 billion. By sector, construction makes up 38.3%, transport 16.8%, and power 15.9%.¹

Several contracts are scheduled for award before the year ends (Exhibit 3). In Qatar, Ashghal is expected to award the North Semaisma roads and infrastructure package and the Mebaireek (Zone 81) roads contract in the fourth quarter. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has three water network and pumping contracts slated for the quarter, and Bahrain’s Sitra independent water and power project (IWPP) is due for award as well.¹² Oman’s University of Technology and Applied Sciences expects to award the main contract for its Musandam branch in November.¹³ Kuwait’s Dorra onshore gas plant, expected to be worth more than KD 1 billion ($3.3 billion), closes for bids on December 29, so its award will follow in the new year.¹⁴

Budgets will set the tone for 2027. Saudi Arabia’s pre-budget statement of September 30 plans spending of SAR 1.392 trillion in 2027.¹⁵ The full budget, with capital spending and sector detail, follows in the fourth quarter, and the statement commits to continued government capital spending and a larger role for the Public Investment Fund and the National Development Fund in domestic investment.¹⁶ Qatar’s Minister of Finance presented the 2026 budget and contracting plan on December 10, 2025; the 2027 budget will show the next year’s capital program and tender plan.¹⁰

What this means for companies in Qatar

The year’s awards point to where work will flow in 2027, as contracts signed in 2026 move into procurement and construction. Companies that test their projects and bids against this evidence are better placed when budgets and tenders arrive. That is the work behind our feasibility studies in Qatar.

• Contractors: follow the energy programs. Gas, oil, and chemicals took 49% of third-quarter awards, and QatarEnergy, Aramco, and ADNOC all run multi-year programs. Fabrication, subcontracting, and services follow the main contracts over several years, so the awards of 2026 shape the subcontract market of 2027 and 2028.
• Suppliers: build local content into the offer. Local companies won 93% of the value of Qatar’s government tenders in the second quarter. The Ministry of Finance is preparing a mandatory list of more than 1,000 national products for government buyers and targets growth of at least 10% a year in local content.¹⁰
• Developers and investors: prepare projects before the budgets land. Projects worth $209.2 billion were at bid evaluation across the GCC in July.³ Projects with a tested business case, a clear funding plan, and approvals in hand are the ones most likely to move when 2027 budgets confirm spending.
• Digital infrastructure: plan for power, cooling, and fit-out. With more than $93 billion of data center projects tracked across the GCC and new capacity under way in Qatar, demand reaches beyond construction to electrical systems, cooling, and long-term operation.
• Finance teams: match working capital to award timing. Large awards bring mobilization, procurement, and subcontract cycles that need working capital and bonding lines in place before the work starts. Planning these early avoids delays once a letter of award arrives.

The year’s awards point to where work will flow in 2027, as contracts signed in 2026 move into procurement and construction.

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Gulf contract awards in 2026 went mainly to energy, chemicals, and construction, and Qatar’s LNG and offshore oil projects and its public works plan kept its own market active. The awards and budgets due in November and December will show how much of the $2.05 trillion pipeline turns into contracts in 2027. Companies that have their bids, partners, and financing ready before those decisions are likely to be best placed to win the work.