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VD Gulf serves its first Boeing 777

After announcing the extension of its services, VD Gulf, a subsidiary of Volga-Dnepr in the United Arab Emirates has just welcomed its first Boeing 777 customer for MRO services (Maintenance, Repair & Operations). VD Gulf is the largest Middle East MRO provider with its 22,000 sq.m. fully equipped hangar to serve large aircrafts in the city of Sharjah. It took 14 days for VD Gulf’s experts to complete all maintenance processes.

Ayrat Gilmutdinov, VD Gulf’s Commercial Director, said: “We have been expanding our services in line with our customers’ expectations. Given that many operators are switching to the Boeing 777 aircraft type, it was important for us to respond to customer requests in a timely manner and to be able to offer them high-quality services for their latest fleet additions (…) “

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BP sells its oil assets in Egypt

BP has announced the sell of its interests in Gulf of Suez oil concessions in Egypt to Dubai-based Dragon Oil, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC). The deal, which is subject to the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ approval, is expected to complete during the second half of 2019 and is part of BP’s plan to divest more than $10 billion of assets globally over the next two years.

Bob Dudley, BP chief executive, said: “Egypt is a core growth and investment region for BP. In the past four years we have invested around $12 billion in Egypt – more than anywhere else in our portfolio – and we plan another $3 billion investment over the next two years. We look forward to continuing to broaden our business here, working closely with the government of Egypt as we develop the country’s abundant resources.”

Hesham Mekawi, regional president, BP North Africa, added: “We continue to bring on new developments and deliver important gas supplies for the country. We remain on track to triple our 2016 net production from Egypt by 2020. As we grow our business here, we also keep our portfolio under review. We believe Dragon Oil is well-placed to operate these mature assets, delivering further value for Egypt.”

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Four new Raimondi LR213 cranes for Dubai

Nurol Construction Co, part of the Nurol Group, has recently received four new Raimondi LR213 luffing jib cranes in Dubai. They will be used on a construction project of 27 residential towers overlooking the Arabian Gulf whose completion is planned for August 2021. Three teams were mobilized to carry out the offloading, assembly and installation of the new machines. Two of the new cranes, each with a jib length of 50 meters, are the first-ever Raimondi LR213s to be erected internally in existing structures onsite in the UAE, while the two cranes installed outside of the structures both have jib lengths of 55 meters.

“Raimondi’s Middle East operations team will be performing monthly onsite maintenance, and as part of the overall after sales care package we will later execute the jumping procedure to enable the cranes to reach 150 meters in height,” said Wael Hasan, Middle East Commercial Director, Raimondi Cranes.

“Nurol decided that the Raimondi luffers were the best fit for this job site based on a number of factors including the LR213’s agility and its 14 tonne maximum capacity,” explains Thasin Tahmaz, PTD Manager, Nurol

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Sarens performs tandem lift at the Al Bayt Stadium in Quatar

To be able to assemble the retractable roof of the Al Bayt football stadium in Quatar, Sarens, on behalf of the Italian construction company CIMOLAI, performed the lifting of this various elements using two crawler cranes.

The two machines were a Demag CC6800 crawler crane rigged in SWSL 78/84 configuration with 450t of superlift and 96m radius with a total load of 95t. The second cane was a Liebherr LR1750 rigged in SWSL 84/91 with 400t of superlift and 102m radius. Its total load was 29t.


This tandem lift had to be planned down to the smallest detail to take into account the pick-up position and travelling distance the cranes had to cover before drop-off. While the customer had planned to use three cranes to perform the lift, only two cranes were needed for the operation. It took Sarens two months to complete all the work on this site.

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Engie acquires all shares of Cofely BESIX Facility Management

The Engie Group, active in the energy sector, has acquired all shares of Cofely BESIX Facility Management (CBFM), a leading provider of customer solutions and energy services in the Middle East. With nearly 2,000 employees in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, the CBFM, created in 2008 through a partnership between Engie and the Belgian construction group Besix, is working on several emblematic sites such as Dubai Mall, Abu Dhabi’s Zayed University and the Quatar Foundation. “This move is strategic to Engie in the Middle East, because it provides direct access to the clients’ needs. It integrates into our portfolio a technical services team with a strong local reputation and provides a robust platform for future development in the region,” said Paulo Almirante, Engie’s Executive Vice-President and Group CEO.
In order to confirm this takeover, Cofely BESIX Facility Management changes its name to Engie Cofely.

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Two Raimondi luffing jib cranes in action at the Abu Dhabi Corniche

Nurol Construction Co., part of the Nurol Group of Companies uses two Raimondi luffers on the Corniche Tower jobsite in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. The two machines are the Raimondi LR165, part of Nurol’s existing fleet, with a 55m jib length and a HUH (Height Under Hook) of 45m that will be climbed to 172m and the recently purchased luffer LR213 with a 55m jib length and a HUH of 45m that will be climbed to 187m.

“Raimondi Middle East supported Nurol with the sale of the LR213 equipped with the Deluxe R16 Crane Cabin. As part of the contractor’s fleet upgrade, the luffing LR213 was chosen for its maximum lifting capacity of 14t and its versatility in areas with difficult to obtain fly-over permissions. This jobsite has multiple security restrictions together with an extremely congested set of high rise developments, so much of our team’s support focused on site planning ahead of the installations,” explained Wael Hasan, Middle East Commercial Director, Raimondi Cranes.

Raimondi has provided Nurol with a three day crane operator training sessions and the jobsite is also subscribed to the monthly maintenance program offered by Raimondi Middle East.