US-based Bechtel, one of the world's premier engineering, construction, and project management companies,  has clinched a key aluminium smelter project in Saudi Arabia, said a media report.

Betchel has been appointed as the engineering, procurement and construction management contractor for Al-Zabirah smelter project  at Ras al-Zour, Meed reported, without saying how it got the information.

The smelter is being developed by Alumco, a joint venture of Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and the British-Canadian company Rio Tinto Alcan.