Qatar Navigation (Milaha) is poised to offer state-owned energy giant Qatar Petroleum as much as $180m for its stake in oilfield services firm Al Shaheen Holding.

Through its wholly owned subsidiary/investment arm Milaha Capital, Qatar Navigation has reached a preliminary agreement to buy Qatar Petroleum’s entire issue share in Al Shaheen, Milaha confirmed in a bourse filing to the Qatar Stock Exchange on Sunday.

Qatar Navigation said a binding agreement for the transaction had not been finalised but the deal was expected to be in the range of $110m to $180m and would be funded from existing cash reserves. Subject to due diligence and a final agreement, the transaction could close in the fourth quarter of this year, the company added.

Grappling with low oil and natural gas prices and keen to divest away from non-core business, Qatar Petroleum employed HSBC in February to advise it on the sale of Al Shaheen. Al Shaheen has three joint ventures in oilfield services, two with GE Oil and Gas and one with the Middle East unit of Weatherford.

Qatar Navigation has kept good to the word of its president and ceo Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai who forecast future investment on announcing the company’s first quarter financial results recently, including a net profit of QAR352m ($96.6m) for the three months ended 31 March 2016, down 3.5% for the corresponding period in 2015. The company’s operating profit for 2015 amounted to QAR772m, an 18% increase over 2014.

“With a strong balance sheet and a healthy financial position, we are confident that we will withstand the current headwinds and continue to invest in the future,” said Al-Mannai.

Qatar Navigation QSC, founded in 1957 and headquartered in Doha, is a public shareholding company. Along with its subsidiaries, Qatar Navigation is engaged primarily in marine transport, acting as an agent to foreign shipping lines as well as being engaged in offshore services, the sale of heavy vehicles, ship repair, fabrication and installation of offshore structures, land transport and the chartering of vessels. It also has investments in real estate, listed and unlisted securities, trading of building materials and the operation of a travel agency.