Kuwait’s state oil firm, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), has asked some of the asset management funds bidding for a stake in its oil pipeline network to tap other investors in their bids for the planned sale estimated at $7 billion, anonymous sources familiar with the process told Reuters on Thursday.
Early this year, it emerged that KPC is considering following in the footsteps of its Saudi and Abu Dhabi peers by tapping major international infrastructure investors to buy a stake in its oil pipeline network.
KPC held initial talks with several major investors about the potential transaction. The world’s biggest asset manager BlackRock, as well as Brookfield Asset Management, EIG Partners, and KKR have reportedly shown interest in the assets which Kuwait plans to lease and re-lease to raise funds.
Kuwait’s state firm launched the process just as the Iran war started, suggesting that KPC remains committed to making a deal with a consortium of investors despite the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
According to Reuters’ sources, investors including BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Brookfield, EIG Global Energy Partners, KKR, and Apollo have advanced to the next stage of the sales process.
If Kuwait manages to structure a deal, it would join other major crude oil producers in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in selling under concession a minority stake in its pipelines.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have signed similar deals with international investors, including BlackRock and KKR.
Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco last year signed an $11 billion lease and leaseback deal involving its Jafurah gas processing facilities with a consortium of international investors, led by funds managed by BlackRock’s GIP.
KKR has bought a minority stake in ADNOC Gas Pipeline Assets, the gas pipeline network of Abu Dhabi’s national oil company.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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