Baker Hughes, a provider of products and services to the worldwide oil and gas industry, has opened its new drill bit manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia.

The plant is fully operational and delivering industry-leading polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits to the Saudi Arabian and Middle East markets, the company said.

This modern drill bit plant consolidates all the manufacturing processes for PDC bits in the kingdom. At full capacity, the facility, an integral part of the Baker Hughes super base in Dhahran, will employ approximately 80 people.

“Proximity to markets and customers is critical to ensuring client alignment and fit-for-purpose products,” stated Art Soucy, vice president of supply chain for Baker Hughes.

“Saudi Arabia and the Middle East are key markets for Baker Hughes and, after several years of successfully assembling drill bits in the kingdom, we took the next logical step of manufacturing bits from raw materials.”-TradeArabia News Service