Bahri to inject $139 mln in Aramco Ras Al-Khair shipyard project

The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) will inject SAR 522.4 million ($139 million) in the Ras Al-Khair maritime yard project, which is set to be the Gulf region’s largest shipyard.

Other shareholders, including UAE’s Lamprell Energy and South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd will inject SAR 2.63 billion ($700 million), Bahri said in a statement to the Saudi bourse, Tadawul.

Bahri’s holds a 19.9 percent share in the project, while Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) owns 50.1 percent, Lamprell Energy 20 percent, and Hyundai Heavy Industries 10 percent.

Elsewhere, Bahri said it inked an off-take agreement to purchase not less than 75 percent of its required commercial vessels over a 10-year period from the project’s start date, or around 52 vessels, including very large crude carriers.

The maritime project will be located in the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services, Ras Al-Khair, near Jubail Industrial City. It will have the capacity to manufacture four offshore rigs, 40+ vessels— including three very large crude carriers (VLCCs)— and service over 260 maritime products annually.  

Production is expected to begin in 2019 with the facility reaching its full production capacity by 2022.

In January 2016, the four companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a shipyard at Ras Al-Khair in eastern Saudi Arabia, where the port city is being developed.