Top 30 EPC Contractors in Global Refining and Petrochemicals
2026-11-04 13:13:29
Each year the magazine RPME (Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East) ranks the world's top 30 EPC contractors by market capitalisation and volume of engineering contracts awarded. The list reflects the projects each major EPC contractor secured in the previous year.
RPME's criteria focus mainly on the Middle East market and are narrower than the ENR Top 250 list, which covers the whole world and a wider range of sectors. Even so, the ranking gives a useful picture of the overall strength and order book of each contractor in the refining and petrochemical industry, and serves as a reference for professionals in the sector.
| Rank | Company | Headquarters | Profile and recent award |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petrofac | St Helier, Jersey, UK | Listed as PFC (LON), 11,500 employees, 2018 revenue US$515 million. In March 2018 it announced a letter of intent with GCC national oil companies worth US$580 million. |
| 2 | Samsung Engineering | Seoul, Korea | Listed as 028050 (KRX), 8,300 employees. Rose to second place on the strength of a US$3.1 billion refinery project signed with ADNOC in February 2018, executed jointly with CB&I. |
| 3 | Tecnicas Reunidas | Madrid, Spain | Listed as TRE (BME), 8,820 employees. In December 2017 it won a US$4.2 billion engineering contract from Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), delivered with Technip of the UK and Samsung Engineering. |
| 4 | Saipem | San Donato Milanese, Italy | Listed as SPM (BIT), 32,000 employees, 2018 revenue EUR 8.5 billion. In November 2017 it won a gas expansion project from Saudi Aramco. |
| 5 | Daelim Industrial | Seoul, Korea | Listed as 000210 (KRX), 7,524 employees. In March 2017 it won the Isfahan refinery upgrade in Iran, a contract worth US$2 billion. |
| 6 | SK Engineering & Construction | Seoul, Korea (SK Group) | In August 2017 it signed a US$1.6 billion contract with Tabriz Oil Refining Company in Iran. |
| 7 | TechnipFMC | London, UK | Listed as FTI (NYSE), 37,000 employees, 2017 revenue US$15 billion. In December 2017 it took the Bapco refinery project together with Samsung Engineering, a US$4.2 billion contract. |
| 8 | Daewoo Engineering & Construction | Seoul, Korea | Listed as 047040 (KRX). In August 2017 it won the Duqm refinery and petrochemical works in Oman together with Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain, a US$2.75 billion contract. |
| 9 | L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering | Mumbai, India | Listed as LT (NSE), 42,925 employees. In September 2017 it was awarded a US$262 million construction package by Kuwait Oil Company. |
| 10 | GS Engineering & Construction | Seoul, Korea | Listed as 006360 (KRX). In June 2017 it signed a US$865 million refinery project with ADNOC. |
| 11 | CB&I (Chicago Bridge & Iron) | Houston, Texas, USA | Merged with Mott MacDonald in May 2018, after the ranking was compiled. Before that, in January 2018, it signed a US$500 million CFP project with ADNOC and jointly took the US$3.1 billion refinery package with Samsung Engineering. |
| 12 | Jacobs Engineering Group | Dallas, Texas, USA | Listed as JEC (NYSE), about 80,000 employees group-wide. In March 2018 it won an engineering contract from Kuwait Oil Company. |
| 13 | KBR | Houston, Texas, USA | Listed as KBR (NYSE), 25,000 employees, 2018 revenue US$4.9 billion. In December 2017 it secured a package from Abu Dhabi Gas Development Company. |
| 14 | Wood Group | Aberdeen, UK | Listed as WG (LON), 55,000 employees, 2018 revenue US$10 billion. In March 2018 it was selected as the first programme management contractor for Saudi Aramco and SABIC, delivering the world's largest integrated crude oil to chemicals complex (COTC). |
| 15 | WorleyParsons | North Sydney, Australia | Listed as WOR (ASX), 30,000 employees, 2018 revenue US$4.8 billion. In March 2018 it won a PMC contract from ADNOC for engineering management of the Ruwais refinery. |
| 16 | SNC-Lavalin | Montreal, Canada | Listed as SNC (TSX), 52,435 employees, 2018 revenue CAD 9.3 billion. In March 2018, with Technip, it took a gas cracking project for NOVA Chemicals in Canada. |
| 17 | Bechtel | San Francisco, USA | 55,000 employees, revenue US$37.09 billion (2012). In January 2018 it won an acid gas recovery package from ADNOC. |
| 18 | Linde Engineering | Munich, Germany | Listed as LING, 50,000 employees, 2018 revenue EUR 49 billion. In December 2017 it signed a memorandum with ADNOC covering nitrogen supply units for a future plant expansion. |
| 19 | CTCI Group | Taipei | Listed as 9933 (TWSE), 7,500 employees, 2018 revenue NT$70.5 billion. Its cooperation with SABIC includes the SKF-10 package (furnace and cooling water systems), and it has built long-standing partnerships in Oman. |
| 20 | NPCC (National Petroleum Construction Company) | United Arab Emirates | A subsidiary of the Senaat Abu Dhabi group. |
| 21 | Hyundai Engineering (HEC) | Seoul, Korea | Privately held, 5,759 employees. In March 2016 it won the Al-Zour import port project in Kuwait, a US$3 billion contract. |
| 22 | Hyundai Engineering & Construction | Seoul, Korea | Listed as 000720 (KRX). In October 2016 it won a US$727 million package from Saudi Aramco. |
| 23 | JGC Corporation | Japan | Listed as 1963 (TYO), 7,554 employees. In 2016 it won several contracts in Bahrain, including gas pipeline storage tanks and gas processing units. |
| 24 | Nuberg | India | A fast-growing Indian EPC contractor. |
| 25 | ACS Group | Madrid, Spain | Listed as ACS, 2018 revenue EUR 34.06 billion. In February 2016 it won a US$370 million turnkey contract in Egypt. |
| 26 | Punj Lloyd Group | India | Listed as PUNJLLOYD. In February 2016 it won a US$304 million pipeline package from Oman Gas Company, and in April 2017 a US$48.66 million fuel purification project in Saudi Arabia. |
| 27 | McDermott | Croydon, UK | 16,000 employees. In 2016 it signed an EPC contract for an oil terminal in Iraq and in August 2017 merged with CB&I of the United States; the combined company was expected to rank higher the following year. |
| 28 | Maire Tecnimont | Italy | Listed as MT (BIT), 6,140 employees, 2018 revenue US$3.62 billion. In July 2016 it signed a US$148 million fuel purification project in Saudi Arabia. |
| 29 | Rotary Engineering | Singapore | In April 2017 it signed a tank construction agreement with ENOC Group of the UAE. |
| 30 | Air Liquide | Paris, France | 66,000 employees, 2018 revenue EUR 21 billion. In August 2017 it signed a cooperation agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company covering a patented methane-to-ethane process; in April 2017 it also signed a nitrogen supply agreement with Oman Oil Refineries (Orpic) for the LIWA plastics industrial park. |
Note: ranking and figures are as published in the RPME survey compiled in the source material; revenue figures refer to the year stated by the source and some are reported in local currency.
