Aramco, Total in more financing for Saudi refinery

Aramco, Total in more financing for Saudi refinery

The joint-venture firm raised $8.5 billion towards the $12.8 billion project.

October 25, 2010 8:57 by Reuters

State-run Saudi Aramco and France’s Total signed a $1.3 billion loan agreement with Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) in the latest stage of financing for their joint oil refinery, state news agency SPA reported on Monday.

The 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) plant being built in Jubail is part of a drive by the world’s top oil exporter to almost double its refining capacity from 2.1 million bpd.

SPA gave no further details.

The joint-venture firm, Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP), said in June it had raised $8.5 billion towards the $12.8 billion project.

Financing came from multiple sources including $4.01 billion from the PIF and Export Credit Agencies, and $4.49 billion from commercial financial institutions, SATORP had said.

The refinery, due to start up in 2013, would process half of the daily output of Saudi Arabia’s Moneefa 900,000 bpd oilfield.

It would produce around 190,000 bpd of diesel, around 90,000 bpd of gasoline and 50,000 bpd of kerosene.

Aramco owns 62.5 percent of the plant, while Total holds the rest. An initial public offering (IPO) scheduled to take place in two to three years will leave Aramco with a stake equal to Total’s.

(Reporting by Reem Shamseddine; editing by Amena Bakr and David Cowell)