Veolia Signs Three Saudi Agreements: Desalination, Mining Water, LPG

Veolia announced on September 1, 2026, that it has signed three memorandums of understanding in Saudi Arabia covering water technologies and hazardous waste management with Acwa, a private water desalination company; Ma’aden, the Saudi mining company; and Khazeen, a liquefied petroleum gas storage subsidiary of the National Gas and Industrialization Company, GASCO.

The three agreements establish a framework for cooperation on the preservation of water resources, energy efficiency, decarbonization of industry, and the development of local skills. Veolia stated that the partnerships align with Saudi Vision 2030 objectives on resource preservation, the circular economy, and decarbonization, and with its own GreenUp strategic program for 2024–2027.

“Environmental security has become an essential condition for the sovereignty, competitiveness, and strategic autonomy of territories,” said Estelle Brachlianoff, Veolia’s chief executive officer, in the announcement. “In Saudi Arabia, this involves the ability to preserve every drop of water, decarbonize industrial development, and turn waste into resources.”

Desalination Value Chain Agreement with Acwa

The memorandum with Acwa covers the performance of seawater desalination plant design, including energy efficiency, optimization of chemical solutions, water quality improvement, and the deployment of technical, digital, and operational practices. According to Veolia, the collaboration will apply to Acwa’s existing and future projects, whose current desalination capacity is 9.7 million cubic meters per day. Veolia estimates that the potential emissions reduction from the collaboration could reach 500,000 tons of CO2 per year, which it describes as equivalent to the annual emissions of around 110,000 conventional cars, alongside lower operating costs.

Acwa announced the signing separately on August 31, 2026, stating that the memorandum was signed in Paris and commits the two companies to optimizing seawater desalination across the entire value chain: plant design, equipment selection, chemical dosing and monitoring, and day-to-day operation. Acwa described energy efficiency as a priority at every stage, with engineers from both companies working together to refine operating strategies, plant designs, and equipment selection to reduce power consumption.

Acwa said the memorandum commits no capacity and is non-exclusive, structured instead around a work program with named technical leads and a review cycle for the ongoing and future development of seawater reverse osmosis plants. The company stated that four of its plants — Rabigh 3, Rabigh 4, Jazlah, and Shuaibah 3 — each produce 600,000 cubic meters of water a day, and that a tenth of a kilowatt-hour saved per cubic meter cuts roughly 22 gigawatt-hours from a single site’s annual power consumption. It added that the collaboration’s approach will extend to the Caspian Sea plant in Azerbaijan and the Grand Côte project in Senegal, where Acwa is building desalination capacity of 300,000 and 400,000 cubic meters a day respectively.

“Between Acwa and Veolia, we have built the most efficient desalination plants in the world, and the lesson those projects taught is that the last increments of cost are rarely sitting in one easily identifiable place,” said Raad Al-Saady, managing director of Acwa. Anne Le Guennec, director of Veolia’s Water Technologies Zone, said the agreement extends work the companies have carried out for more than 10 years on desalination.

Acwa, listed on the Saudi Exchange under the symbol 2082, was established in 2004 in Riyadh and employs more than 4,000 people across 16 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. As of July 2026, its portfolio comprised 111 assets in operation, advanced development, or under construction, representing 475 billion Saudi riyals, or 127 billion U.S. dollars, of assets under management, with the capacity to generate 98.2 gigawatts of power, of which 52.3 gigawatts is renewables, and to manage 9.7 million cubic meters per day of desalinated water. Its Saudi desalination capacity stands at 4.1 million cubic meters a day.

Mining Water and Waste Agreement with Ma’aden

The memorandum with Ma’aden focuses on water cycle and industrial waste management in the mining sector. Veolia said its water technologies will be applied to optimize mining processes, particularly through the treatment and reuse of industrial water, and that the agreement will explore source reduction, recovery, and valorization of materials to create new circular economy loops.

Founded in 1997, Ma’aden is the largest mining and metallurgical company in the Middle East. It operates in four main areas: the extraction and processing of phosphate into fertilizers, particularly from the Al Jalamid and Wa’ad Al Shamal deposits; an integrated aluminum value chain from bauxite mining to ingot production at Ras Al-Khair; gold extraction on the Arabian Shield, including the Mahd ad Dahab and Ad Duwayhi mines; and a diversification into base metals and critical minerals. The company reports revenues exceeding 10 billion U.S. dollars, more than 17 operating sites, and over 8,000 direct employees.

Infrastructure Agreement with Khazeen

The agreement with Khazeen involves deploying environmental technologies in support of the LPG storage company’s decarbonization objectives. Khazeen’s storage infrastructures, located throughout Saudi Arabia, will receive Veolia’s industrial water treatment and hazardous waste management solutions. The agreement also provides for developing an integrated facility management offer covering water, energy, and waste management for Khazeen’s clients.

Khazeen specializes in LPG storage and handling as well as cylinder and tanker filling across the Kingdom. According to Veolia’s release, the company fills more than 127 million cylinders annually, refurbishes over 2 million cylinders each year, records wholesale LPG sales exceeding 770 million liters, and holds LPG storage capacity of more than 77 million liters.

Veolia’s Operations in Saudi Arabia

Veolia has been present in Saudi Arabia since 1975. The group has worked in Jubail, which it describes as the world’s largest industrial complex, treating industrial wastewater from major petrochemical companies.

In December 2021, the National Water Company awarded Veolia the management contract for water and wastewater services in Riyadh and 22 outlying municipalities, a seven-year contract representing revenues of 82.6 million euros covering a population of nearly 9 million people, a 30,000-kilometer drinking water network, and a 10,000-kilometer wastewater network, alongside Alkhorayef Water and Power Technologies. At the same time, Veolia signed a strategic agreement with the Ministry of Investment and the Water Transmission and Technologies Company, and became Saudi Aramco’s exclusive partner for the treatment of its industrial and non-hazardous waste, estimated at 200,000 metric tons per year, in addition to 120,000 metric tons of hazardous waste to be treated in Jubail, where Veolia was finalizing an incinerator for Sadara Chemical Company and nearby industrial companies.

Veolia employs 215,000 people across five continents. In 2025, the group served 110 million people with drinking water and 97 million with sanitation, produced 45 million megawatt hours of energy, and treated 64 million tons of waste. Veolia Environnement (VVD.DE ), listed on Euronext Paris under the symbol VIE, generated consolidated revenue of 44.4 billion euros in 2025.