By: AGBI

A group led by US asset manager BlackRock is reportedly in talks to invest around $10 billion in a pipeline and gas-fired power plants associated with Saudi Aramco’s giant Jafurah shale gas project.

It follows long-running speculation that the state-owned oil company will look to infrastructure asset sales to raise money in the face of dwindling oil revenues.

Aramco has indicated it intends to continue to invest despite a steady fall in oil price since the start of the year.

The Jafurah investment deal is likely to be similar to two “lease and lease-back” deals Aramco signed in 2021, according to Reuters, which quoted two people familiar with the talks.

Those deals, one of which was signed with BlackRock, saw Aramco keep a controlling stake of the pipeline but paid the investors tariffs for their use. Aramco raised nearly $28 billion from the arrangement.

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 percent by 2030 from 2021 levels.

The US is the world’s largest shale gas producer. It was widely expected that American companies would be the most likely investors in any Aramco asset sale, particularly following President Trump’s high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia in May.

Saudi Aramco is facing declining revenues due to a fall in oil price, exacerbated by an Opec+ decision to increase oil production. The company has cut dividends for 2025 by more than $40 billion compared to last year but has not announced any intentions to cut back on its investment plans.

Aramco is also seeking to raise funds backed by revenues from five gas-fired power plants, according to reports earlier this month.