The total value of contracts awarded in Qatar surged by 116% year-on-year to $13.6 billion in the third quarter of 2025, providing a stark contrast to a slowdown across the wider Gulf region. According to a new report from Kamco Invest, this growth is largely driven by preparations for major upcoming events.
For the first nine months of 2025, project awards in Qatar reached $20.5 billion, a 27.6% increase compared to the same period in the previous year. The country’s successful bid to host the 2030 Asian Games is expected to fuel a wide range of industrial and infrastructure projects aimed at upgrading facilities for the event.
Sectoral Performance
The oil and gas sectors led project awards in the third quarter, with contracts valued at $6 billion and $5 billion respectively. The power sector also saw significant activity, with $2.3 billion in projects awarded, up from zero in the third quarter of 2024.
A notable project included approximately $4 billion in contracts awarded to China Offshore Oil Engineering for work on the Bul Hanine offshore oil field. The scope of the project covers maintenance and increased oil production, including the installation of four wellhead platforms and the expansion of existing offshore facilities.
Regional Slowdown
While Qatar experienced a boom, the aggregate value of contracts awarded across the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) fell by 27% year-on-year to $54.8 billion in the third quarter. The report, citing data from MEED Projects, noted this was the second-lowest figure in the last ten quarters.
This regional downturn was primarily caused by a sharp contraction in project awards in Saudi Arabia and a weaker performance in the UAE, where hundreds of thousands of firms are now operating under a new corporate tax. Kamco Invest suggested that persistent geopolitical conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on risk appetite among investors.
Future Outlook
Despite the third-quarter decline, contract awards are expected to gain momentum in the final quarter of 2025, driven by recoveries in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. However, the report forecasts that the total value of projects for the full year will likely fall short of the record set in 2024.
The GCC’s long-term project pipeline remains substantial, with pre-execution stage contracts totalling $1.78 trillion. The construction sector accounts for the largest share at $624.2 billion, followed by transport ($300 billion) and power ($294.2 billion). According to MEED, the regional power sector has at least 29 independent power projects at the bidding or evaluation stage, including the 3,000MW Al-Sadawi 2 solar project in Saudi Arabia.
