$370m Jubail plant to support Saudi aquaculture

Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) is developing a bio-protein production project in Jubail Industrial City with a view to supporting growth in Saudi Arabian aquaculture.

The project, in the country’s Eastern Province, will use natural gas as feedstock to produce 50 kilotonnes of single-cell protein per year, the company said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange.

The plant, which will be owned 80 percent by SIIG and 20 percent by UK-headquartered Unibio, is estimated to cost SAR1.4 billion ($370 million).

Construction is expected to start in the second half of 2026, with completion likely in the final six months of next year. Commercial production is slated to start in the first half of 2028, following a six-month trial run in the second half of 2027.

The plant will make Uniprotein, a single-cell protein, for use in aquaculture feed, Unibio CEO David Henstrom told seafood and aquaculture news website IntraFish.

Local production will provide year-round supplies of sustainable protein for fish and shrimp farmers, he said.

SIIG invested $70 million in Unibio in March 2023 and owns 24 percent of the protein producer.  

Shares in SIIG closed 1.66 percent higher at SAR12.87 on Monday, up 3.62 percent so far this year.

The state-owned General Organization for Social Insurance owns 18.58 percent of SIIG, according to the Saudi Exchange website.

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