Saudi Aramco signed a land lease agreement with McDermott International to establish a fabrication facility in Ras Al Khair industrial city.
The American contractor's wholly owned local subsidiary will be located within the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and will be used to manufacture offshore platforms as well as onshore and offshore modules.
The facility will be located along the country’s eastern coast near the Jubail Industrial City and will stretch across an area of 1,150,000 square metres. It is expected to have a production capacity in excess of 60,000 tonnes per year.
Aramco, the world’s biggest crude producing company, is beefing up its manufacturing portfolio domestically and has invited companies to set up base across its industrial cities. In December, the company opened an industrial park in the Eastern Province, which is expected to contribute $6 billion to the kingdom’s gross domestic product and generate 100,000 jobs by 2021.
As part of its agreement with Aramco, McDermott will also establish a new marine base in the Eastern Province to support the installation of offshore platforms, subsea pipelines and cables, skids and associated structures and assemblies.
“This facility will serve as a major engineering, procurement, construction, and installation hub for not only the kingdom, but for the GCC region,” said Ahmad Al Sa'adi, Saudi Aramco senior vice president for technical services.
The facility is expected to create 7,000 jobs and reach a Saudisation target of 60 per cent by 2030, Aramco said.