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Aramco seals $11bn lease deal for Jafurah gas assets

15 August 2025

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Saudi Aramco has signed an $11bn lease-and-leaseback deal for gas processing facilities at its Jafurah unconventional gas reserve, with a consortium led by funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), part of US asset manager BlackRock.

Under the transaction, a newly formed subsidiary – Jafurah Midstream Gas Company (JMGC) – will lease development and usage rights to the Jafurah field gas processing plant and the Riyas natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation facility.

After 20 years, JMGC will lease the assets back to Aramco. JMGC will receive a tariff payable by Aramco in exchange for granting Aramco the exclusive right to receive, process and treat raw gas from the Jafurah resource base.

Aramco will hold a 51% majority stake in JMGC, while investors led by GIP will hold the remaining 49%.

“The transaction, which will not impose any restrictions on Aramco’s production volumes, is expected to close as soon as practicable, subject to customary closing conditions,” Aramco said in a statement on 14 August.

This is GIP’s second oil and gas investment in Saudi Arabia. Previously, GIP’s parent company, BlackRock, led a consortium including Saudi Arabia’s Hassana Investment Company in a similar $15.5bn lease-and-leaseback deal for Aramco’s natural gas pipeline network.

Under the December 2021 agreement, the BlackRock-led consortium acquired a 49% stake in Aramco Gas Pipelines Company, with Aramco retaining 51%. The consortium holds a 20‑year lease on the pipeline network, after which usage rights revert to Aramco.

Jafurah unconventional gas base

Located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the Jafurah basin is the largest liquid-rich shale gas play in the Middle East, spanning around 17,000 square kilometres. The reserve is estimated to contain 229 trillion cubic feet of gas and 75 billion stock-tank barrels of condensate.

The Jafurah project is central to Aramco’s goal of increasing gas production capacity by 60% between 2021 and 2030 to meet rising global demand. The company expects lifecycle investment in Jafurah to exceed $100bn.

In February 2020, Aramco received a capital expenditure grant of $110bn from the Saudi government for the long-term phased development of the Jafurah unconventional gas resource base.

“Jafurah is a cornerstone of our ambitious gas expansion programme, and the GIP-led consortium’s participation as investors in a key component of our unconventional gas operations demonstrates the attractive value proposition of the project,” Amin H Nasser, Aramco president and CEO, said.

“As Jafurah prepares to start phase one production this year, development of subsequent phases is well on track. We look forward to Jafurah playing a major role as a feedstock provider to the petrochemicals sector, and supplying energy required to power new growth sectors, such as [artificial intelligence] AI data centres, in the kingdom,” Nasser said.

ALSO READ: Contractors extend bid validity for Jafurah fourth expansion project

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Indrajit Sen

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