Singapore’s Keppel Corp, the world’s top offshore rigs builder, said that it has signed a deal with Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) to build a shipyard in the Arabian Gulf.

Nakilat and Keppel’s unlisted subsidiary KS Investments have agreed to form an 80-20 joint venture company – Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd – to build and operate the 43-hectare shipyard which would cost about $450 million, Keppel said in a statement.
KS Investments, for its 20 per cent interest, would contribute $23 million in the joint venture, the statement said.
The proposed shipyard, for repair and maintenance of LNG carriers and the conversion of tankers to Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels, will be part of Qatar’s Port of Ras Laffan and will be operational in 2010, Keppel said.
“Our vision is for the new shipyard to become a centre of excellence for the repair and maintenance of LNG carriers, thereby securing a strategically important link in the supply chain of natural gas from wellhead to consumer,” said Nakilat managing director Muhammad Ghannam.
The proposed shipyard is part of the Ras Laffan expansion programme and is expected to begin operations in 2010.
The new facility will suitable for the repair and maintenance of very large LNG carriers and a wide range of other vessels, as well as the conversion of tankers to Floating Production Storage and Offloading systems and Floating Storage and Offloading systems.
Qatar Petroleum will fund the reclamation of the land and construction of the yard’s infrastructure, which it will then lease to the joint venture firm.
The joint venture will fund the shipyard’s mobile equipment, such as the floating dock, cranes and workshop machinery and provide cash for operations.
When complete, the shipyard can be expanded for the construction of specialised small ships – such as offshore supply vessels – and the fabrication of structures for the offshore oil and gas industry, such as jack-up drilling rigs, process modules and decks, jackets, wellhead decks and flare booms and the fabrication of components for land-based petrochemical and industrial plants. The facility will also provide life-cycle support in all the markets it serves.
Meanwhile, Nakilathas launched its new website at www.nakilat.com.qa, Doha Securities Market (DSM) said.