Oil: Aramco raises $ 12.4 billion for the use of its pipelines
Saudi Aramco, the oil giant saw its value drop by more than $ 300 billion in two days.
REUTERS / Maxim Shemetov / File Photo
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Saudi oil giant Aramco is raising nearly $ 12.4 billion with a consortium led by US fund EIG Global Energy Partners for the use of its pipeline network.
A strategic investment for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which needs to attract investors to diversify its economy.
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With this large-scale operation,
Aramco, the world's leading crude exporter
, will create a joint venture led by the American fund EIG Global Energy Partners.
It will be called Aramco Oil Pipelines Compagny.
The consortium (whose composition has not been detailed) and EIG will own 49% of the shares in the new company, against 51% for Aramco.
The Saudi will therefore keep control of its pipeline network.
He will rent it for 25 years and will therefore collect 12 billion and 400 million dollars.
In return, Aramco will have to pay user rights on the volume of crude that passes through its network, with no quantity restriction.
With this contract, the Saudi state wants to rake in income to diversify its economy and finance Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman's
mega projects
.
Financially, Saudi Arabia is very dependent on hydrocarbons, a windfall that has suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Oil prices have collapsed and Aramco, the Kingdom's golden goose,
lost nearly $ 50 billion in 2020
, nearly half of its net profits.
The agreement on the pipeline network marks a turning point for the country.
And it is, according to Aramco, “one of the most important” oil contracts in the world.
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