Saudi Aramco said on Thursday it had agreed to acquire a strategic minority stake in liquefied natural gas company MidOcean Energy for $500 million, with an option to increase the size of the shareholding.
MidOcean is owned by U.S. investment firm EIG Partners, which led a consortium to buy a 49% stake in Aramco’s oil pipelines business in 2021, a deal that raised $12.4 billion for Aramco.
In October 2022, MidOcean said it agreed with Tokyo Gas Co to buy the Japanese company’s stakes in a portfolio of four Australian LNG projects for $2.15 billion.
Read: Saudi Aramco sees China as an important market
Sources told Reuters in July EIG was tapping international investors, particularly in the Middle East, to buy into MidOcean, which is part of a consortium taking over Australia’s Origin Energy for $10.2 billion.
Aramco President and Chief Executive Amin Nasser said the deal strengthened Aramco’s relationship with EIG and “gas will be important in meeting the world’s rising need for secure, accessible and more sustainable energy”.
In March, Nasser had said that Aramco was actively looking at LNG opportunities globally.
Aramco has been stepping into other energy businesses. The company is targeting capital expenditure of $45 billion to $55 billion for 2023.
Earlier in September, the oil producer agreed to acquire a 100 percent equity stake in Esmax Distribusción (Esmax) from Southern Cross Group. Esmax distributes Petrobas fuel in Chile.
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