Aramco closes $11bn lease deal for Jafurah gas assets
28 October 2025
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Saudi Aramco has announced completing a $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, which Aramco started in August, 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 collect 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 the GIP-led consortium will hold the remaining 49%. Investors participating in the GIP-led consortium include Hassana Investment Company, The Arab Energy Fund (TAEF) and Aberdeen Investcorp Infrastructure Partners, as well as other institutional investors from North and Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
ALSO READ: Investment secured by Aramco for Jafurah is critical
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.
Aramco expects to start gas production at Jafurah later this year, with the intention of progressively ramping up to 2 billion standard cubic feet per day (cf/d) of sales gas, 420 million cf/d of ethane, and 630,000 barrels a day of high-value liquids by 2030.
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, had earlier 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 previously said.
ALSO READ: Contractors extend bid validity for Jafurah fourth expansion project
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The bid submission deadline is 26 February.
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Modon tenders Ras El-Hekma construction contracts
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Abu Dhabi-based developer Modon Holding has tendered several contracts as part of the first phase of development at Ras El-Hekma, a planned new city on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
MEED understands that the tenders were issued in January.
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Chinese firm wins Ceer automotive supplier park deal
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