Saudi energy consortium closes to $5.6 billion in financing

At a time when the Kingdom recorded a growth in transshipment traffic through its ports, information issued yesterday revealed that the alliance of companies that own the “Jazan Gasification and Energy Production Complex” in Jazan Economic City (southwest of Saudi Arabia); Which includes Saudi Aramco, is close to securing about $5.6 billion in financing for the financial close.
And according to what CNBC Arabia reported, quoting sources, the financing may be secured during the current week, explaining that the financial closure of the project was expected to take place in the fourth quarter of this year, but she indicated, at the same time, that the total debt The project financing is about $7.2 billion, while the rest will be financed through a soft loan from the Industrial Development Fund worth $1.6 billion.
The sources expected that about 22 local banks would compete to provide the financing, indicating that Standard Chartered and Fransi Capital would provide financial advice services, while White and Case would provide legal advisory services to Aramco.
It is known that the “Jazan Gasification and Energy Production Complex” project is the construction of an integrated power plant with gasification and combined cycle technologies in Jazan and a Jazan air separation unit, with an estimated value of $12 billion.
Air Products owns 46 percent of the project, ACWA Power Saudi Arabia 25 percent, Saudi Aramco owns 20 percent, and Air Products Qadra owns 9 percent of the project. The joint venture will Owning, operating and transferring the facility under a 25-year contract, and Saudi Aramco will supply the raw materials produced by the refinery.
The production capacity of the new project is about 3800 megawatts of electricity, about 184 thousand cubic meters of hydrogen per hour, and steam at about 585,000 tons per hour.
On the other hand, during last August, Saudi ports handled 814,000 TEUs (exported and imported), including transshipment containers, which recorded a remarkable increase of 20.4 percent, by more than 457,000 TEUs, while the cargo handled amounted to more than 25 million tons, while the number of ships increased by 8.1 percent by 1,119 ships.
According to the statistical indicator issued by the General Authority of Ports, “Saudi Ports” achieved a remarkable increase in the total number of passengers during the past month, by 134.7%, by 70,000 passengers, in addition to achieving an increase in the number of cars by 61.7 percent, representing An increase of 74,000 cars, while the total number of livestock reached 43,000 heads of live cattle, while the total food stuff amounted to more than 1.6 million tons.
The increase in handling volumes comes in line with the requirements of development, the national economy and commercial movement in the Kingdom, as part of the continuous development processes that the General Ports Authority is working on in the context of raising the level of operational and logistical performance and upgrading the competitiveness of services provided to beneficiaries, in addition to raising the infrastructure and absorptive capacities in This vital sector, as it comes in light of strategic partnerships with major international shipping lines, which contributes to strengthening the strength of linking the Kingdom’s ports with the ports of the East and West and increasing the volumes of handling in the ports.
The vision of the General Authority of Ports under the umbrella of the “National Strategy for Transport and Logistics Services” is based on “developing a sustainable and prosperous maritime sector to consolidate the Kingdom’s position as a global logistics center and enable its economic and social ambitions, and work to achieve more excellence and upgrading, to make ports an investment attraction and development, In a way that supports trade and economic development of the Kingdom.”