DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabiaexpects a huge ship repair and shipbuilding complex that itsnational oil company Saudi Aramco is developing at Ras al-Khairon the kingdom's east coast to cost over 20 billion riyals($5.33 billion), energy minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday.
"Construction will start in 2018, production in 2022," Falihwho is also chairman of Aramco told reporters at the company'sheadquarters in Dhahran.
The government will finance the infrastructure of thecomplex such as dredging and other work as it did with othercities Jubail and Yanbu that have become major industrial hubs.
Ras al-Khair is itself turning into a major mining hub whereMa'aden has built an aluminium complex and phosphate facilities.
The maritime complex is a joint venture between SaudiAramco, Saudi Bahri, South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries and Lamprell.
The project will help generate thousands of direct andindirect jobs, a key part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, aneconomic reform programme the government announced this year, inwhich Aramco is to play a big role in developing industrialprojects as Saudi Arabia tries to diversify its economy beyondreliance on oil exports.
Falih said other partnerships will be forged such as withU.S. Mcdermott company which will make offshore platforms.
He was speaking to journalists to brief them on theinauguration by King Salman of oil and gas and industrialprojects and a cultural centre. Those projects cost around 160billion riyals, he said.
He said the Sadara joint venture between Aramco and DowChemical alone cost as much as 80 billion riyals.
Among the projects that Saudi Aramco has completed are theKhurais oilfield which has a production capacity of 1.2 millionbpd, Shaybah whose production has reached 1 million bpd afterrecently completing an expansion and Manifa's 900,000 bpd.
Aramco is working on expanding capacity at Khurais to 1.5million bpd, seen on stream in 2018.
"The production capacity of oil projects that the King willinaugurate exceeds or is around 3 million barrels per day."
Saudi Arabia's maximum sustainable production capacitystands at 12.5 million bpd, Falih reiterated as the additionalcapacity was just replacements for mature oilfields. (Reporting by Reem Shamseddine, editing by David Evans)
