Saudi Aramco announced the conclusion of an investment deal with an international consortium, for $12.4 billion.
The consortium, according to a company statement published on Friday, includes a wide range of investors from North America, Asia and the Middle East.
As part of a deal announced in April 2021, Aramco Crude Oil Supply Company and Saudi Aramco entered into a 25-year lease and re-lease agreement for Saudi Aramco's crude oil pipeline network.
In return, Aramco Crude Oil Supply Company will receive a tariff paid by Saudi Aramco for the quantities of crude oil that flow through the network, and this tariff will be linked to a minimum size of those quantities, and Saudi Aramco will retain a majority stake, 51%, in the company. new.
Saudi Aramco will retain ownership of the entire pipeline network with full operational control over it.
This transaction will not impose any restrictions on the company in terms of the amount of actual production of crude oil, which is subject to production decisions made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The President of Saudi Aramco, Amin bin Hassan Al-Nasser, said that the interest that the company has received from investors is evidence of the strong confidence in its business, its long-term sustainability and a positive outlook for its future prospects.
According to Nasser, the deal reflects the great value of Aramco's assets, and represents one of the most important historical moments in Saudi Aramco's journey to develop its business portfolio and investment projects and achieve growth opportunities.
Al-Nasser affirmed that Saudi Aramco will continue its plans to explore opportunities to benefit from its leading capabilities in the energy industry, and to attract the most appropriate type of investments to the Kingdom, which is also strategically aligned with the Partner Program initiative.
Saudi Aramco's Senior Vice President for Institutional Development, Abdulaziz Al-Qadimi, said that the deal will depend on the infrastructure of Saudi Aramco's high-level pipelines, to achieve added value and enhance the level of returns for shareholders.
For his part, the Chairman and CEO of (EIG), Robert Blair Thomas, said that this is the most prominent infrastructure deal in the world.
It is the first major deal for the Saudi company since its listing in late 2019, when the kingdom's government sold a minority stake in it for $29.4 billion, in the world's largest initial public offering.
The figures showed that Aramco's net profit fell during 2020 to its lowest level ever after achieving $49 billion, compared to a net profit of $88 billion in the previous year, due to the repercussions of "Corona".
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