Saudi Arabia's national oil giant Saudi Aramco has ordered four supertankers from the South Korean firm Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the official SPA news agency reported Wednesday. Each of the four super tankers will have a capacity of 300,000 tonnes and be able to transport two million barrels of crude oil with a range as far as the Americas, Europe and the Far East, the agency said, without disclosing the value of the order.
The tankers, which will be delivered in 2002 and 2003, will replace four tankers to be taken out of service.
The order was overseen by Vela International Marine, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco that specialises in transporting oil by sea, SPA said.
Vela, which has 15 boats in service, has one of the largest fleets of tankers in the world, and transported a quarter of all Saudi Aramco's oil exports in 1999.
Saudi Aramco has the monopoly on oil production in Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil producer.
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
