Saudi Arabia’s East Pipes Integrated Company for Industry announced earlier this month that it has reached sign off on multiple contracts with Saudi Aramco worth more than SAR1.65bn ($440mn). In a 2 June announcement on the Tadawul, the firm said the contract is for the manufacturing and supplying of steel pipes, with the contract duration 19 months. The scale of the award highlights that while Aramco has halted plans to expand its crude production capacity by 1mn b/d, it is pressing ahead with ambitious plans to increase gas capacity (MEES, 21 June) and to grow its downstream footprint.