Saudi SEC to sign Rabigh power contract next week

JEDDAH, July 6 (Reuters) - State-run Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) 5110.SE will sign next week a contract with a consortium led by Korea Electric Power Corp (015760.KS) (KEPCO) to build a 1,200 megawatt power plant, company officials said.

The deal for the Rabigh plant will be signed on July 11 with the consortium, which includes Saudi firm ACWA Power international, Amr Aswaha, head of projects for independent power producers (IPP) at the firm, said on Monday.

Chief Executive Ali al-Barrak said on Saturday that financing for the project was secured and the contract would be signed on July 11, but gave no further details.

SEC will have 20 percent of the project, Barrak said then, confirming earlier information.

The consortium had already emerged as preferred bidder, beating a consortium of Belgium's Suez, UK's International Power (IPR.L) and private Saudi Oger.

The plant will be built in two phases with 600 megawatt added by 2012 and another 600 megawatt by 2013, Aswaha said.

Saudi Electricity, the largest Gulf utility by market value, is trying to satisfy a demand for power that has soared sharply in the past two years as many infrastructure projects get underway. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Ulf Laessing, via Riyadh newsroom, +966 1 463 2603)