First construction contracts awarded for Saudi maritime yard
Lamprell expects all conditions to be completed by year-end for the proposed new maritime yard in Saudi Arabia.
In May, the fabricator signed a joint venture agreement with Saudi Aramco, Bahri, and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) to establish and operate the facility through a joint venture company, which should come into effect soon.
This will be one of the largest yards in Middle East region with 4.1 kilometres (2.5 miles) of quayside and 640,000 square metres (6.89 million square feet) of workshops. It should be part-operational by 2019 and fully functional by 2021.
Lamprell will be the technical partner in two zones focused on construction of jack-up drilling rigs and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for jack-ups and commercial vessels.
HHI will be responsible for the two zones focused on construction and MRO services for offshore support vessels and also construction of commercial vessels.
Saudi Aramco and JVCo expect to sign an off-take agreement for construction of 20 offshore jack-up drilling rigs over a ten-year period, and for MRO services for jack-ups, with the new Aramco/Rowan drilling joint venture nominated as the off-taker.
Until the new yard is operational, JVCo will likely subcontract some of this work, with Lamprell yards in the UAE likely assigned substantial component parts of the first two jack-ups in 2018.
The first contract for dredging works at the new Saudi yard has been awarded with further construction set to be placed by year-end.
Lamprell is seeking further partnering options to work on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects in the energy, and is in talks with various parties to bid for much larger-scale projects in areas of the world new to the company.
The company is presently hiring various specialists with expertise in EPC projects to build on its existing competencies, and it is also installing a new pipe shop near its Hamriyah facility.
So far this year Lamprell has delivered three jack-up drilling rigs: the Al Hudairiyat and Al Lulu to NDC in February and April, and another jack-up to Shelf Drilling, which is operating alongside an earlier-built sister rig offshore Thailand.
In addition, the company completed fabrication of 45 modules for Petrofac for the Upper Zakum project offshore Abu Dhabi.
The upgrade of the Haven mobile operating unit for Master Marine, for use at the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea, is on track for completion at Hamriyah later this year, with offshore installation scheduled for the first half of 2018.