Marine and oil and gas services provider James Fisher and Sons (JFS) is expanding its footprint in the Middle East offshore market acquiring service provider Murjan Al-Sharq Marine Contracting LLC (MSMC) in Saudi Arabia.
MSMC is an established service provider based in Saudi Arabia, with a 10-year track record of successful projects with Saudi Aramco. The acquisition brings a wealth of local expertise into the JFS group.
In particular, the move adds strategically important nearshore marine construction and maintenance capabilities to the JFS offer, supported by new, high quality vessels and equipment from MSMC and the group’s existing shallow water fleet.
“This acquisition by JFS solidifies our expansion into the promising Saudi offshore sector. We have now combined our existing offshore capabilities with the nearshore strengths of MCSC to offer a truly unique range of services that will be capable of delivering complete project scopes to the main EPCs,” said Paul Whiley, regional director for James Fisher in the Middle East.
Chris Clark, VP at MSMC, said: “I am looking forward to a promising future with JFS. The company is well positioned now, having recently deployed new marine assets from Damen shipyards for existing and upcoming projects. We will be performing marine services with the new fleet under the Saudi flag to support Saudi Aramco and Vision 2030.
“James Fisher has a very good track record in the Middle East and the merger means that together, we can build on the last ten years of development from MCSC to deliver well planned, multi-disciplined marine solutions to our clients.”
The merger follows the recent announcement of multi-million dollar contract awards to support a major contractor in the region and wider investment from JFS to develop a significant and permanent presence on the Arabian Peninsula.