Exclusive: BlackRock-led group set to invest in $10 billion Aramco Jafurah infrastructure deal

Reuters

6 days ago

DUBAI/LONDON, July 17(Reuters) - Saudi Aramco (2223.SE), opens new tab is close to a deal to raise around $10 billion from a group led by BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab that has been set up to invest in the infrastructure of Aramco's Jafurah gas project, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The agreement would be the latest in a series of financial arrangements, akin to borrowing, that allow Gulf oil producing countries to raise money to diversify their economies while promising investors a stable revenue stream.
The two people said the latest transaction was expected to be similarly structured to two Aramco infrastructure deals in 2021, including one in which BlackRock invested in Aramco's gas pipeline networks, allowing the Saudi company to generate funds.
Aramco kept control of the underlying infrastructure while the investors earned tariffs from the oil firm for the use of the pipelines.
Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. They did not say when the deal might be finalised. Aramco and BlackRock declined to comment.
The $100 billion Jafurah project, potentially the biggest shale gas project outside the United States, is central to Aramco's ambitions to become a major global player in natural gas and to boost its gas production capacity by 60% by 2030 from 2021 levels.
The Jafurah assets underpinning the deal include gas pipelines and a gas processing plant, one of the sources said.
Aramco has long been the biggest source of the kingdom's revenues. Saudia Arabia has been seeking to diversify its economy as oil prices have come under pressure from global economic uncertainty that could further reduce demand.
They have also been depressed by increased output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Saudi Arabia, which is striving to boost market share.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Aramco was seeking to sell up to five gas-fired power plants to raise funds.
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In 2021, BlackRock and EIG were among investor groups that took stakes in companies that leased usage rights in Aramco's gas and oil pipeline networks. The groups leased them back to Aramco for a 20-year period in two separate deals, helping the Saudi company to raise nearly $28 billion.
Described as lease and leaseback transactions by Aramco at the time, they were structured as a form of borrowing, Robin Mills, chief executive of consultancy Qamar Energy told Reuters.
"The pipeline deals were basically a securitisation" and not a sale of the asset, whose ownership remained with Aramco, Mills said.
In those deals the groups took 49% stakes in subsidiaries Aramco Oil Pipelines and Aramco Gas Pipelines, in which Aramco retains 51% stakes. The subsidiaries receive a tariff from Aramco for flows of crude and natural gas, backed by minimum commitments on throughput.
The deals followed other transactions in the region, including Abu Dhabi's ADNOC sale of minority stakes in the companies owning the leasing rights to its oil and gas pipelines.