By: AGBI

State-backed Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is reportedly exploring plans to lease part of its pipeline network to raise new funds for its $65 billion spending programme.

The company has hired New York-based Centerview Partners as adviser for the potential deal, Bloomberg reported, quoting informed sources.

Such a transaction would mirror the asset-monetising strategies adopted by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

KPC plans to raise $5 billion-$7 billion through the leasing of 13 pipelines over 25 years, the report said.

Talks are continuing and no final decisions have been made. Any plan would require final sign-off from the Kuwaiti government.

KPC’s mega-investment programme, launched in April 2024, includes raising oil production capacity to four million barrels per day by 2035.

Saudi Aramco last month signed an $11 billion lease and leaseback deal involving its Jafurah gas-processing facilities with a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners, part of BlackRock.

In 2022, BlackRock co-led a consortium of investors in a separate minority investment in Aramco Gas Pipelines Company.

Last year Lunate, the alternative investment manager based in Abu Dhabi, bought the 40 percent stake in Adnoc’s oil pipelines previously owned by BlackRock and KKR.