The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) announced that its Board has approved the purchase of two secondhand Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), Blue Topaz and Blue Pearl.

The contract is worth a total of USD157m.

The VLCC duo was built in 2010 at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and is being bought from DSME's shipowning arm DK Maritime.

Bahri informed that the two VLCCs will be delivered to the company between Nov. 15, 2015 and Jan. 31, 2016.

"The financial implication of these 2 VLCCs is expected during the 1st quarter 2016," added the company.

Earlier last week, Reuters reported that Bahri was in talks with local banks to raise approximately 2.8 billion riyals (USD747m) via a long-term loan to be used towards vessel financing.

Unnamed sources were quoted as saying that the funding would be used to buy VLCCs from South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Bahri saw its net income rise to SAR510.3m (USD136m) in the third quarter of 2015 from SAR84.8m reported in the same period last year.

The company's gross profit hit SAR611.2m, a major increase when compared to the corresponding period from a year ago when it amounted to SAR118m.

Bahri attributed the increase in the net income to a growth in operating revenues as a result of the expansion of its VLCC fleet from 26 to 31 VLCCs, 5 product tankers and 1 floating storage vessel, following the completion of the merger process with Vela Marine International Ltd.