Bahrain sells stake in key oil pipeline to BlackRock
Published by Isabel Stagg,
Editorial Assistant
World Pipelines,
Bapco Energies, which manages the nation’s energy infrastructure including the pipeline, sold a minority ownership stake in the Saudi Bahrain Pipeline Company to a fund managed by BlackRock’s diversified infrastructure team, according to a statement, which didn’t include terms, says Reuters and Bloomberg News.
No value was disclosed for the deal, which marks Bapco Energies' first asset monetisation and is set to support Bahrain, the region's most indebted economy and among its smallest oil producers.
Bahrain has been introducing reforms to make doing business easier, create more jobs, and attract foreign investment to boost economic growth.
Earlier this month, it introduced a Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax, effective 1, January, 2025, that will ensure a minimum 15% tax rate on profits for certain multinational enterprises.
"We are implementing a range of projects and initiatives that support comprehensive national development and capitalising on our asset and operations management," Bapco Energies' CEO Mark Thomas said in the statement. The deal follows similar moves by private equity firms targeting pipeline assets in neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where in 2019 BlackRock and KKR bought a 40% stake in the entity that leases ADNOC's oil pipelines for US$4 billion.
In April, the stake was sold to Abu Dhabi investor Lunate.
BlackRock and Bapco Energies said the energy firm will retain a majority stake and governance over SBPC, which owns a portion of the 112 km pipeline supplying crude oil from Saudi Aramco to Bapco Refining, Bahrain's national refinery.
The BlackRock-managed fund and Bapco Energies have also signed an MoU "to explore collaboration on future Bahraini infrastructure and decarbonisation projects," the firms said.
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Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/12092024/bahrain-sells-stake-in-key-oil-pipeline-to-blackrock/
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