A still image from a video showing how the rig will look once completed. Photo: The PIF

An 800-room hotel and amusement park will be built on a massive oil drilling platform in the Arabian Gulf.

The Rig, a network of connected platforms spanning 150,000 square metres, is the latest tourism destination presented by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

“This project is a one-of-a-kind… attraction,” the PIF stated when it announced the project at the weekend. “It is expected to attract tourists from all over the world, but it will be especially popular with inhabitants and residents of the GCC countries in the region.”

There will be 50 boat berths available, as well as “three hotels, world-class restaurants, helipads, and a choice of daring activities, including extreme sports.”

The Rig’s location was not revealed by the PIF. The east coast city of Dammam is home to a large number of Saudi Arabia’s oil platforms.

The PIF did not provide an opening date, just stating that the initiative was part of its 2021-2025 strategy.

The Rig is the newest tourism and entertainment initiative meant to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependency on oil, which was launched on Saturday.

The authorities of the kingdom has disclosed plans for significant resorts along the country’s west coast in the Red Sea.

On the back of supply deficit estimates, oil prices have risen to a three-year high:

The Peninsula – Doha: Oil prices rose to a three-year high above $80 a barrel on Friday, bolstered by expectations of a supply shortage in the coming months as coronavirus-related travel restrictions are lifted, boosting demand. Brent oil futures finished at $84.86 a barrel on Friday, with front-month prices reaching their highest level since October 2018, marking the sixth consecutive weekly gain of 3%. WTI crude futures in the United States climbed 1.2 percent to $82.28 a barrel. This was up 3.5 percent from the previous week, marking the eighth weekly increase in a row.

With the recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic, demand has increased, with a boost from power generators who have switched from expensive gas and coal to fuel oil and diesel. The White House said that COVID-19 travel restrictions for properly vaccinated foreign nationals will be lifted on November 8, boosting jet fuel demand even further. Meanwhile, a substantial decline in oil stockpiles in the United States and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s member countries is projected to keep global supplies tight.

Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices continued to rise last week, on the back of higher European gas prices, which fueled competition from buyers in Asia, while demand is firm from top buyer China. The average LNG price for November delivery into Northeast Asia was estimated at about $38.50 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu), up $1.50 from the previous week. December delivery prices were estimated to be about $38.40 per mmBtu. Facing an ongoing power crunch, amid a shortage of coal for electricity generation, China has been one of the heavy buyers of LNG.

Natural gas imports via pipelines and LNG reached a nine-month high of 10.62 million tonnes in September, up 22.6 percent from the same month last year. China’s large purchases are cementing the relationship between Asian LNG pricing and the European TTF. On Friday, TTF prices finished at $30.05 per mmBtu, up roughly 6% from the previous week. The spotlight will remain on tomorrow’s gas transit capacity auctions and what they tell about Russia’s November capacity bookings into Europe. After completing its storage stocks, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Novak announced the country could begin spot gas sales.