Liquidity drives project finance appetite
27 October 2023
This report on project finance and PPP also includes: PPP activity rebounds in 2023
Activity in the Gulf region has triggered a boom in the project finance market, with Saudi Arabia leading the way on the back of schemes linked to its Vision 2030 strategy.
Deals are fanning out from power and water and infrastructure schemes into unexplored territory: hydrogen projects and ever-larger solar power plants have opened up opportunities for international and regional banks that are awash with liquidity and looking for long-term means to deploy it.
Deal advisers attest to the vibrancy of Saudi Arabia, the largest regional projects market with $1.2tn-worth of known work in the pipeline. The kingdom has seen the largest project financing this year, a facility worth at least $6bn arranged for the Neom green hydrogen project.
“Saudi Arabia is a market that really is firing on all cylinders,” says Rob Harker, a partner at law firm DLA Piper, which advised Neom Green Hydrogen Company in connection with its green hydrogen and ammonia project in Saudi Arabia.
“That demand is not limited to utility sector projects. In addition to the very large solar and wind projects – including a Saudi solar deal that is 1.1GW – we are also seeing a large volume of social infrastructure projects being procured across the GCC, including in education, healthcare, social accommodation and transport,” he adds.
“Bank debt – both regional and international – is still the principal source of financing for these projects. However, robustly structured projects should also be attractive, particularly on a refinancing, to a capital markets issuance.”
Robust liquidity support
There is increased liquidity in the regional banking market, notes John Dewar, partner in international law firm Milbank’s global project, energy and infrastructure practice, which advised the export credit agencies (ECAs) and commercial banks in connection with Project Lightning, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s offshore power transmission project.
“With the bullish medium-term oil price outlook, there is significant liquidity in the Saudi and UAE bank markets, with these banks looking to on-lend their petrodollar deposits on a longer-term basis.”
This still poses some challenges. Analysts note that despite the bountiful credit availability, things can change.
“There is still a lot of liquidity in the system in the GCC, but some have voiced concerns that liquidity in the banking market could dry up in the future if they have to compete with projects that are much larger in scale,” says Christiane Kuti, a director at Fitch Ratings.
“Overall liquidity in the market could get tight at some point, although we are not there at the moment.”
Even then, notes Kuti, a lower oil price could add impetus to the need to develop frameworks to make projects more bankable, and provide an opportunity for the capital market to play a bigger role.
Most of the larger deals are witnessing a heterodox mix of local and international banks participating. For example, a consortium of five local and international banks has agreed to provide $545m of financing for the Rabigh 4 independent water producer project in Saudi Arabia, with Standard Chartered Bank lining up alongside Bank of China and the local trio of Saudi National Bank, Riyad Bank and Saudi Investment Bank.
The Chinese bank presence is a pointer. “We have seen Chinese banks participating in project finance deals, and that is set to continue as they are not as constrained as some of the regional banks in terms of the tenor on which they can lend. Their ability to lend on a longer-term tenor is sometimes attractive for sponsors and developers,” a source tells MEED.
The flipside of this is that Chinese lenders are less knowledgeable about the market.
Global uncertainties
Despite the robust oil price climate, project financings across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region have had to cope with a choppy global interest rate environment, with inflationary pressures also impinging.
Higher interest rates have militated against the use of capital market instruments in some regional deals. For Abu Dhabi’s subsea transmission system deal, which reached financial close earlier this year, higher interest rates were responsible for adding $200m to the $3.8bn deal.
This has implications for other projects that are seeking refinancing on the capital market. In Saudi Arabia, BlackRock-led investors in Saudi Aramco’s gas pipeline network attempted early in 2023 to raise $4.5bn from a sale of bonds to refinance a multibillion-dollar loan. The 10-year mature sukuk (Islamic bond) tranche spread placed it about 120 basis points above where Aramco bonds maturing in October 2030 were trading, according to Reuters’ calculations.
Another consortium led by US-based energy infrastructure investment firm EIG Global Energy Partners had also looked to the bond markets to refinance.
“The EIG and BlackRock-led consortiums investing in Saudi Aramco’s oil and gas pipelines infrastructure have been looking to refinance more than $20bn of acquisition debt,” says Dewar.
“Both have been active in the bond market, but the interest rate environment has moved against bonds, so there has been an increasing focus by borrowers on accessing other longer-term liquidity sources, particularly from the highly liquid regional banks.”
Capital market instruments
For the moment, capital market instruments are largely confined to refinancing rather than greenfield projects. However, once some of these projects are financed, it could encourage others to lend on that basis.
“Once a project has been up and running, and it has got consistent revenue from the offtaker of the electricity or the water, and they are paying an index-linked revenue stream that is 100 per cent take or pay and insulated from the erosion of any inflationary pressures, that is very attractive for bondholders, pension funds and other institutions that want stable revenues,” says one industry insider.
Beyond the Gulf, Egypt has managed to attract project finance for its renewable energy schemes, with significant ECA support. In March 2023, a $690m non-recourse financing was arranged for the 500MW Gulf of Suez Wind 2 project in Egypt.
The renewable energy push has continued after Cairo’s hosting of the 2022 Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Cop27). The drive has included the Amunet wind and Abydos solar projects closed by Amea Power, as well as the Gulf of Suez Wind 2 project sponsored by Engie, TTC-Eurus and Orascom.
“They are both important deals in a global context because they mark the first occasions on which the Japanese ECAs have co-financed with the International Finance Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, respectively, opening up important new financing opportunities in emerging markets,” says Dewar.
Support from ECAs is particularly valued in Egypt, given the economic challenges the country is facing.
A planned polypropylene complex due to be developed in Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone has been put on hold, with the $1.7bn project developed by Red Sea Refining & Petrochemical Company having been affected by the depreciation of the Egyptian pound.
More regional financing
Another emerging theme will be for the larger Mena banks to play a bigger role in regional project financings.
The likes of First Abu Dhabi Bank have been active across GCC borders, including in Saudi Arabia. Given their healthy liquidity profiles, the biggest banks in the GCC are better positioned for longer-tenor project finance deals than ever before.
Not that it will be plain sailing. Structural impediments will still have to be overcome.
For example, most Saudi banks still need to get consent from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama) to participate in dollar loans. “That can constrain their ability to operate outside the kingdom,” says Dewar.
“There is a regulatory preference for them to make Saudi riyal loans rather than dollars. But because of the increase in dollar liquidity, there is much more availability in the Saudi market than there was a year ago.”
Project finance will remain a critical part of the funding mix in the Mena region. As Fitch Ratings notes, the significant growth needed to achieve the GCC’s investment requirements cannot be attained using traditional financing channels, such as on-balance-sheet funding by governments. Instead, there is a need to broaden the investor base, including through project financing.
The likelihood of a more benign global interest rate environment in 2024 should pave the way for a reassertion of capital market-based deals, making the next few months busy ones for banks and deal-makers across the Mena region.
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Operational resilience is now the Gulf’s real energy test
7 April 2026
For the past few weeks, the Gulf energy story has been told mostly through the lens of damage. That is understandable. We have seen attacks on industrial sites, ports and tankers, while the Strait of Hormuz remains the key constraint on exports and recovery. Around a fifth of global oil normally passes through the strait, and the latest attacks have again underlined how exposed regional and global markets remain to disruption in that corridor.
But the more useful question now is not simply what has been hit. It is what still works, what can be rerouted, and how fast operators can adjust.
Impact scale
The current estimate is that the physical impact of this conflict now likely exceeds the energy industry impairments sustained during the 1990-91 Gulf War, including both physical damage and business interruption. This is a serious shock, and it will feed through into global inflation, insurance pricing, financing costs and downstream supply chains.
This is why the story extends beyond oil and gas. Metals, aluminium and petrochemicals are part of the same resilience test. In energy-intensive industries, even a short interruption to power or logistics can create outsized losses. Aluminium is a clear example. Once power is curtailed for too long, the restart problem becomes expensive very quickly.
But that does not mean the Gulf’s energy system has been structurally broken. A great deal of productive capacity, logistics infrastructure and operational capability remains in place. The real question is not whether the region can function at all, but how far operators can adapt, reroute and preserve output while the disruption continues.
The physical impact of this conflict now likely exceeds the energy industry impairments sustained during the 1990-91 Gulf War
What gives me some confidence is that the region is not standing still. Good operators are doing what good operators tend to do under pressure. They are changing production plans, prioritising domestic demand where needed, rerouting logistics and shifting product slates. In petrochemicals, some producers can move from liquid output to solid output, which is easier to truck overland and export through alternative routes. In plain terms, they are trying to keep molecules moving.
Others are bringing planned maintenance forward. If an asset cannot export efficiently today, using this period for a turnaround can preserve future production once routes reopen. That does not remove the loss, but it can turn part of it into a timing effect rather than a permanent one.
Risk management
Insurance is part of that resilience equation, too. Cover is never uniform across the market, because it reflects each operator’s risk appetite. Some businesses are well protected, while others have chosen to retain more risk. In these situations, more proactive risk management actions may be preferred, such as moving inventory, reducing throughput and process operating severity [intensity] to add resiliency to energy infrastructure in case of damage.
Prior investment in resilience is also showing its value more broadly. That includes pipeline networks, flexible logistics, broader product portfolios, experienced operating teams and, in some cases, stronger risk transfer strategies. The businesses under the most pressure are those still heavily reliant on moving bulk liquids through constrained maritime channels and with fewer options when disruption hits. Those with more routes, products and risk flexibility are coping better.
None of this should be mistaken for complacency. Recovery will take time. Even when conditions improve, shipping patterns will not normalise overnight. The losses are real, and the fallout will be global. But this is no longer only a damage story. It is a test of operational resilience, and so far the region is showing it has more of that than many assume.
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Adnoc Gas to rally UAE downstream project spending
7 April 2026
Despite the impact of recent Iranian attacks on its assets, the gas processing business of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc Gas) is on course to emerge as the largest spending entity in the UAE’s downstream oil and gas sector this year.
Adnoc Group created Adnoc Gas, which began operating as a commercial entity in 2023, through the merger of its former subsidiaries Adnoc Gas Processing and Adnoc LNG. The consolidation of Adnoc’s gas processing and liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations formed one of the world’s largest gas processing entities, with a capacity of about 10 billion standard cubic feet a day (cf/d) across eight onshore and offshore sites, including Asab, Bab, Bu Hasa, Habshan and Ruwais.
The scale of its infrastructure – particularly its 3,250-kilometre pipeline network, which is being expanded under the $3bn Estidama project – positions Adnoc Gas as a critical enabler of both domestic industrial growth and export competitiveness.
Resilience amid geopolitical risk
The recent drone-related disruptions highlight the growing exposure of Gulf energy infrastructure to regional conflict. However, the limited operational impact reported by Adnoc Gas suggests a high degree of system redundancy and resilience, supported by networked infrastructure and diversified processing capacity.
This resilience is crucial as the company pushes ahead with its $20bn-$28bn capital programme for 2023-29. Continued investment despite security risks signals confidence in both project economics and the UAE’s ability to safeguard critical assets.
Rich Gas Development
At the core of Adnoc Gas’ expansion strategy is the Rich Gas Development (RGD) programme, which aims to increase processing capacity by 30% by 2030.
The RGD project will enable the development of new gas reservoirs, helping to boost gas liquids exports, support UAE gas self-sufficiency and provide feedstock to the country’s growing petrochemicals sector, Adnoc Gas says.
The first phase of the RGD project is under construction. Adnoc Gas awarded $5bn-worth of engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) contracts in three tranches for phase one last June – its largest-ever capital investment.
The contracts cover the expansion of key gas processing plants to increase throughput and improve operational efficiency across four facilities: Asab, Bu Hasa, Habshan (onshore) and the Das Island liquefaction facility (offshore).
The first tranche, valued at $2.8bn, was awarded to UK-headquartered Wood for the Habshan facility. The company said the contract value includes pass-through revenue and that it expects to recognise about $400m in EPCm revenue.
Wood’s scope includes upgrades and debottlenecking of the Habshan and Habshan 5 gas processing complexes and pipelines, including brownfield modifications and the installation of new facilities.
The remaining two tranches – $1.2bn for the Das Island liquefaction facility and $1.1bn for the Asab and Bu Hasa facilities – were awarded to UAE-based Petrofac and Dubai-based Kent, respectively.
Petrofac, separately, said it will provide EPCm services and oversee procurement and construction contracts for a new inlet facility; two gas dehydration and compression trains, each with a capacity of 420 million cf/d; and associated infrastructure at Das Island. The company will also upgrade existing facilities to increase capacity for collecting and transporting raw gas.
RGD growth phases
Adnoc Gas’ capital expenditure commitment of $20bn for the 2023-29 period is expected to rise to about $28bn as it targets final investment decisions (FIDs) on the second and third phases of the RGD programme in the first quarter of 2026.
These phases involve building a natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation train at the Ruwais facility and a new gas processing train at Habshan. Adnoc Gas has selected main contractors for EPC works on both projects, although official contract awards are pending.
Italy’s Tecnimont has been selected for the Ruwais NGL Train 5 project, which will have a capacity of 22,000 tonnes a day, or about 8 million tonnes a year.
China-based Wison Engineering has been selected for the Habshan 7 gas processing train. The Habshan complex is one of the largest in the UAE and the wider Middle East and North Africa region, with a capacity of 6.1 billion cf/d across five trains and 14 processing units.
With Adnoc Group advancing its P5 programme to raise oil production capacity to 5 million barrels a day by 2027, higher volumes of associated gas are set to enter the grid. The new train at Habshan, scheduled for commissioning in 2029, will help process these additional volumes.
Bab Gas Cap development
As part of its upstream expansion plans, Adnoc Group is working to extract gas from four underdeveloped gas cap reservoirs at the Bab onshore field: Thammama A, B, F and H. The Thammama A, B and H reservoirs are expected to produce a combined 1.45 billion cf/d, while Thammama F is projected to produce 396 million cf/d.
Existing processing capacity at Habshan will be insufficient to handle these volumes. As a result, Adnoc Gas plans to build new facilities to process up to 1.85 billion cf/d of additional gas.
The company is planning a new gas processing plant in the Bab area, about 170 kilometres from Abu Dhabi, along with associated pipelines and supporting infrastructure, as part of the broader Bab gas cap development project.
Adnoc Gas has divided the EPC scope into four packages. It completed contractor prequalification in February and is expected to issue main EPC tenders in the second quarter.
The company’s capital expenditure commitment could exceed $30bn once it reaches FID on the Bab gas cap development, which is expected later this year.
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Israel ramps up gas exports to Egypt
7 April 2026
Israel’s gas flows to Egypt have returned to pre-war levels after restarting on 4 April, helping to ease the ongoing gas shortage in the North African country.
Around 1.1 billion cubic feet a day is being transported by pipeline from Israel’s Leviathan and Tamar gas fields, according to a Bloomberg report.
This is the same level that was being transported prior to Israel shutting down production from its offshore gas fields due to security concerns, and halting flows to Egypt on 28 February.
Despite having its own gas reserves, Egypt is a net importer of natural gas and has been impacted by the surge in global prices since the US and Israel started their war with Iran.
Last month, Egypt increased the prices of several petroleum products and natural gas for vehicles due to higher global energy prices.
On 9 March, Egypt raised the price of natural gas for vehicles by 30% to E£13 ($0.25) a cubic metre.
Egypt’s Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ministry said the increase was introduced due to “exceptional circumstances” resulting from geopolitical developments in the Middle East and their direct impact on global energy markets.
It said that the regional conflict had led to a significant increase in import and domestic production costs.
Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa region’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer, is facing uncertainty over its LNG supplies in the coming months.
Between March 2025 and February 2026, Egypt imported 9,440 kilotonnes of LNG, with the majority purchased under short-term agreements, mainly with third parties such as trading houses.
Last year, it was reported that Egypt had signed deals for around 150 cargoes through to the summer of 2026.
READ THE APRIL 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDFEconomic shock threatens long-term outlook; Riyadh adjusts to fiscal and geopolitical risk; GCC contractor ranking reflects gigaprojects slowdown.
Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the April 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
> AGENDA: Gulf economies under fire> GCC CONTRACTOR RANKING: Construction guard undergoes a shift> MARKET FOCUS: Risk accelerates Saudi spending shift> QATAR LNG: Qatar’s new $8bn investment heats up global LNG race> LEADERSHIP: Shaping the future of passenger rail in the Middle EastTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16280784/main.jpg -
Egypt gas sector activity surges amid regional conflict
7 April 2026
There is a surge of activity in Egypt’s gas sector as investors pour money into boosting domestic production and the country makes deals to leverage its existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) export infrastructure.
The increase in activity has come as the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continues to prevent the shipment of around 20% of the world’s LNG supplies to consumer nations.
While Egypt remains a net importer of natural gas, its geographical position, significant gas reserves and existing infrastructure, including two LNG export terminals, mean it can potentially capitalise on the current supply crunch.
Harmattan development
On 6 April, Arcius announced the final investment decision (FID) to develop the Harmattan gas field offshore Egypt.
Arcius is a joint venture between UK-based BP and the UAE’s Adnoc, focused on developing gas assets in Egypt and the wider Eastern Mediterranean.
The company acquired the El-Burg offshore concession area, which includes the Harmattan field, in February.
An engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) contract for the project has been awarded to Egypt’s Enppi, while Cairo-based Petrojet and Petroleum Marine Services (PMS) have been awarded work as subcontractors.
In a statement, Naser Al-Yafei, the chief executive of Arcius, said: “The FID to develop the Harmattan field marks an important milestone in advancing one of our first projects in Egypt toward production.”
Idku LNG
UK-based Shell also held a meeting with Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi recently, with talks focusing on increasing domestic natural gas production and utilising the Idku LNG export terminal.
The terminal has a nameplate capacity of 7.2 million tonnes a year, but is not currently operated at full capacity.
The Idku facility is owned by a consortium of companies, with Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas holding the biggest stakes.
Gas corridor
On 30 March, Egypt signed a natural gas cooperation agreement with Cyprus, laying the groundwork for a regional gas corridor that will allow Nicosia to transport its gas to Egypt to use its export infrastructure.
The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of a conference in Cairo, where both parties agreed to cooperate on the development and exploitation of gas resources.
The text of the agreement focused on technical and commercial aspects of the deal, establishing a basis for future negotiations.
Under the agreed terms, Cyprus’ gas will be processed in Egypt’s liquefaction facilities before being shipped to export markets.
The agreement built on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in February last year, in which Egypt agreed to buy gas from Cyprus’ Aphrodite field.
Block 6
It is also expected that Italy’s Eni, which operates Cyprus’ Block 6 concession with France’s TotalEnergies, will announce FID for the development of the Kronos field in the coming weeks.
The field has reserves of 3.1 trillion cubic feet and, under current plans, the field’s gas will be transported to Egypt via pipeline before being exported from Egypt’s Damietta LNG terminal.
Future investment
As a net importer of natural gas, Egypt faces short-term economic problems due to the current high-price environment, forcing the country to pay more for energy imports.
While this is a major setback for the country and is likely to erode its foreign currency reserves over the coming months, the current global shortage of natural gas could lead to increased investment in the country’s oil and gas sector.
This could accelerate existing project plans within the sector as well as the development of new projects.
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Adnoc Gas and Borouge facilities suffer Iranian attacks
6 April 2026
Debris from Iranian drones intercepted by the UAE’s air defence systems has caused damage at the Habshan gas processing facility operated by Adnoc Gas in Abu Dhabi, killing one person on site, as well as at the petrochemicals complex operated by Borouge.
In a disclosure to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on 5 April, Adnoc Gas, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc Group), said debris resulting from a successful interception by UAE air defences in the area caused damage to a limited number of facilities within the Habshan gas complex on 3 April.
The incident resulted in the death of an engineer working at the facility for Egyptian contractor Petrojet during evacuation. Four other contractors sustained minor injuries and were discharged from hospital after receiving treatment.
Specialised teams were immediately dispatched to isolate the affected area and begin a comprehensive assessment of the damage to the production line, which is ongoing, Adnoc Gas said.
“We are profoundly saddened by the loss of life and extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. Our thoughts are also with the injured colleagues, and we wish them a full and speedy recovery. The safety, security and wellbeing of our people remains our highest priority,” Fatema Al-Nuaimi, CEO of Adnoc Gas, said in the filing.
“We remain committed to delivering shareholder value. Our balance-sheet strength and capital discipline support the resilience of the company,” she added.
Adnoc Gas further said it is meeting domestic demand in the UAE through other facilities, with no impact on customer supply. “The company continues to actively collaborate with international customers and partners where needed,” it said in its disclosure.
The Habshan gas processing facility has been attacked at least twice in March during Iran’s ongoing war with Israel and the US.
Borouge incident
Authorities in Abu Dhabi reported fire damage at Borouge’s main petrochemical facility caused by fragments from a drone interception falling on the complex on 5 April. No injuries were reported, the Abu Dhabi Media Office said.
“Production activity in affected areas has been suspended following the incident whilst damage assessment and repairs are carried out,” the company said in a filing with ADX on 6 April.
The company also highlighted market conditions. “A global shortage of polyolefins is driving a strong recovery in prices in March, which has continued in April,” it said.
Borouge said it remains financially positioned to manage near-term impact. “Borouge retains significant financial resilience to navigate short-term operational disruption due to its strong cash generation and significant available liquidity.”
Borouge pointed to strong operating performance heading into the disruption. “In the first quarter of 2026, Borouge achieved high utilisation rates and was able to sell a significant proportion of its production during the month of March via alternative routes,” the statement said.
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