Saudi Aramco is likely to start work on its giant ship repair and shipbuilding complex - to developed jointly by its partners National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries and UAE engineering firm Lamprell - in 2018, according to a report.

The Saudi Aramco joint venture project, which will come up at Ras Al Khair on the kingdom's east coast, is expected to cost more than SR20 billion ($5.32 billion) on completion, reported Reuters.  

The government will finance the infrastructure of the complex such as dredging and other work as it did with other cities Jubail and Yanbu that have become major industrial hubs, said the report, citing the kingdom's energy minister Khalid Al Falih.

"Construction will start in 2018, production in 2022," stated Falih, who is also chairman of Aramco, at the company's headquarters in Dhahran.

Falih said other partnerships will be forged such as with US Mcdermott company which will make offshore platforms.