Saudi's Bahri begins commercial operations at 3 floating desalination barges
The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) has started commercial operations at its three floating desalination barges project.
The prolonged extreme weather conditions in the Red Sea in the latter part of 2024 led to delays in transporting and mooring the third barge at its permanent location before starting up operations, the company said in a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange.
The full financial impact of the project will be reflected in its results starting the second quarter of 2025, the statement added.
In December 2019, Bahri signed a 20-year agreement, valued at 760 million Saudi riyals ($202.60 million), with state-owned Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) to supply desalinated water from its floating stations to the authority's desalination tanks.
Each station will have a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters per day (m3/day) with a total capacity of 150,000 m3/day.
The project was expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2020, the company disclosed in its 2019 press release.
In December 2023, Bahri announced that the barges are undergoing testing and commissioning, with commercial operation expected to commence during the second half of 2024.
(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)
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