Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction announced that it had signed a contract to construct the Yanbu4 seawater desalination plant with a consortium, consisting of the French energy company Engie as the project developer and Saudi Arabian companies Mowah and Nesma.

The Yanbu4 seawater desalination plant will be applying the reverse osmosis (RO) process. It will be constructed in Ar Rayyis, located about 260 km north of Jeddah. The RO process is a water purification process that removes salt from seawater by using pressure to force water molecules through a semipermeable membrane.

Doosan plans to construct the Yanbu4 seawater desalination plant on an EPC basis, taking on the responsibilities of engineering, procurement and construction. Once constructed, the plant will supply 450,000 tons of potable water daily, enough for 1.5 million people in the Ar Rayyis region in the western part of Saudi Arabia.

Upon the request from Engie, the French company acting as project developer, Korea Eximbank has provided project financing amounting to KRW 260 billion (USD 238 million) and strong support on winning this project. It is the first time that Korea Eximbank has ever provided financial support for a seawater RO desalination project.

The KRW 780 billion (USD697.41 million) RO desalination project is expected to be completed by 2023.