A consortium of investors that include Aramco, Air Products, Acwa Power and Air Products Qudra reached an agreement for asset acquisition and project financing of a $12 billion air separation unit joint venture in Jazan Economic City in Saudi Arabia.
The unit serves Aramco’s Jazan Refinery, which processes 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil and produces ultralight sulphur diesel, gasoline and other products, Aramco said in a statement on Monday.
The joint venture is “central to the self-sufficiency of our megaprojects at Jazan,” said Mohammed Al Qahtani, senior vice president of downstream for Aramco.
It will “enhance the overall value of the refinery and integrated gasification combined cycle power plant, and aid in transforming the province by positioning Jazan Economic City for additional foreign investment and private sector involvement,” he added.
The consortium secured $7.2bn from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund and 23 local and international lenders, he added.
Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil exporting company, is investing heavily in its downstream projects to extract more value from its crude oil production. It also reorganised its downstream business into four commercial units last year and said it plans to consolidate its downstream business under a separate, wholly owned unit before December 31, 2024.
The aforementioned joint venture purchases the ASUs, gasification, syngas clean-up, utilities and power assets from Aramco. The Saudi Arabian state oil company will supply feedstock to the joint venture, which will in turn produce power, steam, hydrogen and other utilities for Aramco.
The joint venture owns and operates the facility under a 25-year contract for a fixed monthly fee, the statement added.
Aramco has a 20 per cent stake in the project through its subsidiary Saudi Aramco Power Company, while Air Products owns a 46 per cent share, Acwa Power has 25 per cent and Air Products Qudra 9 per cent.
Air Products’ total ownership position is 50.6 per cent since it also has an additional 4.6 per cent through Air Products Qudra.
With the completion of these definitive agreements, all parties under the joint venture expect asset transfer and funding to occur in October of this year. Air Products said it intends to conduct a public investor call at that time.
The project is also expected to increase job opportunities for citizens and will enable Saudi talent to employ this technology for the first time, Aramco said.
“Jazan IGCC is set to be the largest integrated project for gasification and combined cycle energy production in the world. Bringing the most advanced technologies to the kingdom, the Jazan project will push the boundaries,” said Mohammad Abunayyan, chairman of Acwa Power.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
Rocketman
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Off-roading in the UAE: How to checklist
Korean Film Festival 2019 line-up
Innocent Witness, June 26 at 7pm
On Your Wedding Day, June 27 at 7pm
The Great Battle, June 27 at 9pm
The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, June 28 at 4pm
Romang, June 28 at 6pm
Mal Mo E: The Secret Mission, June 28 at 8pm
Underdog, June 29 at 2pm
Nearby Sky, June 29 at 4pm
A Resistance, June 29 at 6pm
The years Ramadan fell in May
More on animal trafficking
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
