LONDON: Saudi shipper Bahri reported record earnings as crude oil shipments from Saudi Arabia soared in the second quarter. The stock rose more than 3 percent to SR37.70. The Kingdom ramped up oil exports in March which stoked demand for very large crude carriers and helped to raise charter rates for Bahri, also known as the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia. Net income after zakat and tax jumped by more than 1500 percent to SR760.61 million ($202.6 million) from a year earlier, the company said in a filing to the Tadawul stock exchange on Tuesday. The jump in earnings was “powered mainly by the growth in the oil sector due to the rise of transportation rates in addition to the increase in the number of voyages during the second quarter of the year,” the company said in a statement. Freight rates for very large crude-oil carriers moving between the Middle East and China doubled in March to as high as $180,000-a-day as oil importers took advantage of low prices to stockpile. At the same time tankers were also chartered to simply store oil as land-based storage tanks filled. However, rates have since eased as reserves are gradually absorbed by the market. The Public Investment Fund holds 22 percent of Bahri while 20 percent is owned by Saudi Aramco. The rest is held in shares by Saudi nationals.