Saudi Aramco has signed an 11 billion dollar lease-and-leaseback deal with a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners, an affiliate of BlackRock, to develop its Jafurah gas processing facilities. A new subsidiary, Jafurah Midstream Gas Company, will lease the rights to the Jafurah Gas Plant and the Riyas NGL Fractionation Facility, then lease them back to Aramco for 20 years. Aramco will retain a 51 percent stake, with investors holding 49 percent, and the agreement places no limits on production.
The Jafurah field, with reserves of 229 trillion cubic feet of raw gas, is central to Aramco’s strategy to raise gas production by 60 percent by 2030. Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser called the project a cornerstone of the company’s expansion, saying phase one output will start this year, supplying the petrochemicals sector and powering emerging industries such as AI data centres.