Aramco is reportedly close to raising around $10 billion from a BlackRock-led group in a financing deal tied to its $100 billion Jafurah shale gas project, according to Reuters.
The deal could be structured similarly to transactions in 2021 in which BlackRock and other investors leased rights to Aramco’s pipelines, then “leased them back to Aramco for a 20-year period,” Reuters reported. Those deals helped the oil producer raise almost $28 billion. The Jafurah transaction would include pipelines and a gas processing plant.
The Jafurah project — one of the largest shale gas developments outside the US — is key to the kingdom’s plan to boost gas output by 60% by 2030 and turn Aramco, the world’s biggest oil exporter, into a major gas producer.