Siemens Energy: Middle East power push strains gas turbine supply

ABU DHABI: Gas turbines are now some of the hardest machines to buy in the energy world, and the countries that ordered first are the ones getting them.

"The gas turbine industry and market is very constrained at the moment," Hussein Shoukry, managing director for the Middle East and Africa at Siemens Energy, told Arab News on the sidelines of ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi.

The squeeze is regional as much as global. Shoukry said the Middle East's electrification push means "we're going to have to increase capacity by 50 percent over the next five years."

Saudi Arabia moved first. Shoukry said the Ministry of Energy, guided by the minister's vision, locked in much of Siemens Energy's turbine capacity early.