Ethiopian-born Saudi billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi is one of the richest African-born people in the world.
Sheikh Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi was arrested in the Saudi kingdom last Saturday, and he is one of dozens of elite detainees sleeping on mattresses on the floor of a well-guarded ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh, awaiting the next steps by Saudi authorities.
Charges slapped on Sheikh Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi are not clear but authorities have insisted the arrest would not affect al-Amoudi’s international business empire.
The Saudi government released a statement on Tuesday aimed at reassuring investors with ties to any of the individuals arrested.
The Saudi government said that only personal bank accounts have been frozen, and related businesses would not be affected.
Al-Amoudi was born in Dessie, Ethiopia, in 1946 to an Ethiopian mother and a Saudi father.
He immigrated to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1960s and made his first billion two decades later with a construction contract to build an underground oil storage facility.
Since then, his empire has grown across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and it includes Sweden’s largest petroleum refiner. His net worth is said to be above $10 billion.
Sheikh Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi has invested a large portion of his portfolio - $3.4 billion in Ethiopia, where he holds interests in oil, gold mines, agriculture and cement.
Saudi Arabia doesn't recognize dual citizenship, so al-Amoudi would have given up his Ethiopian passport when he emigrated.
Even though he was born in Ethiopia, he’s a Saudi citizen.
Ethiopian law is very restrictive as to how foreign citizens can invest in Ethiopia, but Sheikh Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi has all the same made it.
He is invested heavily in the restive Oromia region, where his Derba MIDROC company operates a pumice mine for cement, along with a gold mine.
Following protests and attacks on local businesses by unemployed youth, local governors stopped work at his mine and demanded that al-Amoudi allow local youths to operate the mine.
Oromia regional governors were trying to take away some of these businesses and redistribute them to the youth.
People from Oromia say they have not benefited from al-Amoudi’s investments.
Most of the fortune of Sheikh Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi comes from this area. He harvests about 5,000 kilograms of gold annually from Oromia.
PROJECTS
Africa - Addis International Catering
On the premises of the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Midroc Project Management AB has constructed a state of the art Airline Catering Facility that meets the international requirements and standards regarding hygiene set by ITCA.
The construction work started May 2007 and was finalised in June 2008. The Catering Facility started its deliveries to their clients in October 2008 and employees some 200 Ethiopian citizens.
Construction Management
The Construction Management including site supervision was undertaken by Midroc Project Management AB, with the purpose to safeguard the performance and quality of the completed catering facility.
Goods and Services required for a building project of European design is not obtainable in Ethiopia and was therefore procured from outside the country and shipped in.
Erection
The subsequent erection on site was constructed by some 300 local labours under Midroc Project Management AB supervision. Through local representatives,local labour was sourced and recruited in Addis Ababa.
Many trades were represented, such as concrete workers, welders, pipe fitters, carpenters, painters and decorators. In support of construction work, local contractors for cranes, trucks, security, IT etc. was also hired.
Also unskilled labours were recruited, contributing with general services.
Features
The building area is some 6,000 sqm where the flight kitchen is taking the main part, shared also with office spaces, storage areas, refrigeration and freezer rooms, production areas with hot kitchen, bakery, packing, etc.
Beside the normal installations such as HVAC, electrical and water & sewage, the facility has its own garbage collection pipe system with down spouts in the kitchen area.
The facility also has its own water treatment plant including desalination and UV-treatment. It also has its own sewage treatment plant with an end-product similar to rainwater in quality which is used for irrigation purposes at the facility.
Europe - Ore pellets plant
Process control for the largest industrial project in Sweden this decade.
Midroc Automation has successfully concluded the largest industrial automation project this decade in Sweden. Midroc Automation has supplied the process control systems for LKAB's new concentration and pelletizing plant in Kiruna, Sweden.
The delivery was a complete functional undertaking, based on field bus technology. The scope comprised engineering, programming, control system, field devices, erection and commissioning. The project was executed in record-time, with at most 300 engineers and erection crew.
Project scope
Process control system ABB 800xA, divided into 24 process stations. Field solution: Profibus-DP/PA and ASi
- Project guidelines, standards and templates
- Hardware engineering in Smartplant from Intergraph
- Programming with Functional Design and standars libraries
- Time schedule management in Primavera
- Construnction and assembly of cabionets and field devices
- Delivery of instruments and UPS solution
- Electrical and instrument erection
- 35 000 meters of cable ladders
- 700 000 meters of cabling
- 150 000 engineering hours
- Commissioning
- Training
Middle East - Underground Hydrocarbon Storage Project
Under ground storage at several locations across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the complex supporting infrastructure above the ground.
The Midroc subsidiary ABV Rock Group has since the latter part of 1980´s been engaged in a gigantic EPC (Engineer - Procure - Construct) undertaking for storage of refined hydrocarbons within the strategic defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The works were finalized in 2008 and all sites are fully operational and have been handed ovder to the client. At the peak in 1994, the project employed approximately 12,000 persons.
The project comprises under ground hydrocarbon storage at several locations in the country and the complex supporting infrastructure above the ground.
It also includes an extensive distribution pipeline network. Because of the ground water situation in the Kingdom, extreme precautions were taken to eliminate contamination.
Much of the material and equipment for the storage site was supplied by more tham 90 Saudi factories. More than 1000 Saudi businesses participated in executing the project. Underground tunnels were decorated with paintings by local artists.
This mega-project comprises all tasks required for a major turn key project, such as:
- selection of site locations based on geological, environmental and strategic considerations
- conceptual and detailed design
- procurement of equipment and bulk items
- construction
- training
- commissioning
- start-up
- operation and maintenance (one year)
Project Archive
MIDROC-Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies is a company owned by Sheik Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi. It has operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Through its Corral Petroleum Holdings AB, MIDROC has become a major independent oil company.
Midroc has operations across three continents, over 50,000 employees and a turnover of $25 billion. The group is active in various sectors, including industry, venture capital, oil and fuel, production, energy and mining.
Midroc Europe is a privately owned corporate group based in Sweden active in the properties, construction, industry and environmental technology sectors.
MIDROC Ethiopia which was created in 1994. In 2011 it made 1.3bn birr (US$70m) of profits.
MIRDOC has major gold mining interests in Ethiopia and it is reported that MIDROC Gold Mine a subsidiary of MIDROC Ethiopia has paid the Ethiopian Government 100.1 million birr in royalties, the largest contribution of any mining company.
Midroc Gold is Ethiopia’s sole gold exporter. Its Lega Dembi mine has a yearly average production of around 4,500 kg of gold and silver.
MIRDOC owns 70% of National Oil Ethiopia, which competes with YBF, TAF and five other companies in the national petrol market and is establishing a major steel plant Tossa in Amhara.
This latter is Ethiopia’s first industrial steel production plant and in intended to meet a major increase in domestic demand, estimated to rise from 1.2m tonnes to 3.1m tonnes per annum between 2011 and 2014.
In August 2008, MIDROC opened a small cement factory on the outskirts of the town, which produces 4,000 quintals of cement per day.
Some of the output of this factory will be used in the construction of the larger Derba Midroc Cement Factory, which will be located 70 kilometers north of Addis Ababa and is expected to be the largest cement factory in Ethiopia.
North Holdings Investment announced 17 October 2009 that it had completed a feasibility study for its own cement factory at Dejen, which would be built on 450 hectares of land.
Construction of the factory will cost around US$1.6 billion, and once completed it would have a production capacity of nine million tons a year.
MIDROC also built the Sheraton Addis hotel.
Midroc Middle East is a privately owned corporate group active in the engineering and construction and the industrial sectors.
- ABV Rock Group Ltd
- Saudi ABV
- Yanbu Steel
- Metals Services
- Trans Desert Transport
- Golden Leaves
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