Saudi Aramco and McDermott have reached a significant milestone with McDermott breaking ground on its new fabrication facility within the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services in Ras Al-Khair , Saudi Arabia . The overall site which is being developed by Saudi Aramco is expected to be the largest maritime industries complex in the Kingdom and the Middle East region in terms of production, capacity and scale.

Within the development, McDermott is building a state-of-the-art facility spanning 1.2 million square meters that will include offices, pre-fabrication shops, blasting and painting shops and large assembly shops capable of fabricating platforms and modules for both offshore and onshore projects for Saudi Aramco and other customers in the region. The facility will incorporate up to 80,000 square meters of covered shops to house the latest automation technology and will also include a 580-meter reinforced bulkhead providing marine access.

" The King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services would offer opportunities for strategic industries to operate and flourish in the Kingdom and enable localizing the maritime industry," said Ahmad A. Al-Sa'adi , Saudi Aramco Senior Vice President of Technical Services. "The Saudi Aramco team has been working tirelessly for a number of years to create the infrastructure from which McDermott and the other anchor tenants within the Complex are able to establish their facilities," said Mohammad Al Assaf , Saudi Aramco Vice President of New Business Development. "With McDermott breaking ground, we move a step closer to the Complex acting as a hub for job creation and supply chain development in accordance with Saudi Vision 2030 objectives," added Al Assaf.

"The SAFIRA fabrication yard enhances our long history and close relationship with Saudi Aramco, our largest customer, and demonstrates our commitment to the Saudi Vision 2030," said David Dickson , McDermott President and Chief Executive Officer.

"This project will see a new world-class McDermott yard with innovative equipment, technology and processes. As the first EPC Contractor to establish a full-scale fabrication facility in Saudi Arabia , we will build on generations of knowledge and experience within McDermott to create something extraordinary. But this project is also about people, and we will continue building our in-Kingdom engineering and procurement offices as well as sourcing and developing local talent on all levels in the company," said Linh Austin , McDermott Senior Vice President, Middle East and North Africa .

In March 2019 , Saudi Aramco signed a land lease agreement with McDermott Arabia Company, Ltd. , a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc., to grant McDermott a lease to establish this fabrication facility. Under the provisions of the land lease agreement, McDermott will benefit from the Complex wide infrastructure that is being developed by Saudi Aramco. Such infrastructure includes employee accommodation, medial facilities and recreation areas that will support McDermott in attracting and retaining a workforce with a significant Saudi national content.

About McDermott

McDermott is a premier, fully integrated provider of technology, engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. For more than a century, customers have trusted McDermott to design and build end-to-end infrastructure and technology solutions to transport and transform oil and gas into the products the world needs today. Our proprietary technologies, integrated expertise and comprehensive solutions deliver certainty, innovation and added value to energy projects around the world. Customers rely on McDermott to deliver certainty to the most complex projects, from concept to commissioning. It is called the "One McDermott Way." Operating in over 54 countries, McDermott's locally focused and globally-integrated resources include more than 42,000 employees, a diversified fleet of specialty marine construction vessels and fabrication facilities around the world.

About Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco is a leading global integrated energy and chemicals company. We are driven by the core belief that energy is opportunity. From producing approximately one in every eight barrels of the world’s oil supply to developing new energy technologies, our global team is dedicated to creating impact in all that we do. We focus on making our resources more dependable, more sustainable and more useful. This helps promote stability and long-term growth around the world.