National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), the exclusive oil-shipper for Saudi Aramco, has signed a deal to buy five very large crude tankers from ship builders Hyundai Heavy Industries, the Riyadh-listed firm said on Sunday.

Hyundai will build the tankers and deliver them to Bahri in 2017, a statement to Riyadh's bourse said. Bahri also has an option to buy five more. It did not say how much it would pay for the tankers, although each will have a capacity of 300,000 deadweight tonnage.

Bahri became the sole provider of very large crude carrier crude oil shipping services to Saudi Aramco after it bought the marine unit of the oil giant in a deal first announced in 2012 but which was completed last year.

Bahri's first-quarter net profit more than doubled to SR398.4 million, the company said in April. - Reuters