A venture between Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (Apicorp) and National Shipping Co. of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) “will create the world’s largest fleet of oil tankers and support the kingdom’s plan to boost crude exports,” according to a report in Bloomberg, which cited comments from Dr. Khalid al-Falih.
The venture will create a $1.5 billion fund to add 15 very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, to the shipper’s planned fleet of 46 such vessels.
Falih, who is Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources, told reporters about the new fund in Riyadh.
Bahri’s president of oil sector, Naser al-Abdulkareem, told Reuters that Bahri is the “second-largest VLCC owner in the world with 36 VLCCs, maybe one short of the first, and we have 10 ships on order and the target is to grow…Oil prices is one thing but the oil demand keeps growing, so we have a great opportunity to capitalize on the business.”
Aramco ships about 20 percent of all oil cargoes at sea globally, and it needs more tankers to meet rising demand for its crude, according to Al-Falih.
[Click here to read the full report in Bloomberg]
