Saudi state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco is weighing a stake sale in its natural gas pipeline network in a bid to free up cash and attract foreign investment into the country, as per people familiar with the matter. The Master Gas System pipeline network connects Aramco’s production to processing sites across the kingdom with a capacity of 9.6bn cubic feet per day, as per its latest annual report. The talks however are still at a preliminary stage, the sources added. This comes after Aramco announced earlier this month that it would be selling a stake in its oil pipeline unit to a consortium led by EIG Global Energy Partners for over $12bn. Further, the company is also in the midst of a strategic review of its upstream business that could see external investors coming in some of Aramco’s oil and gas assets. This is part of the company’s initiative of selling stakes in non-core assets to shore up cash to fund its $75bn annual dividend that primarily goes to the government.
Aramco’s 2.25% bonds due 2030 traded slightly higher at 96.84 yielding 2.63% while its 3.25% bonds due 2050 traded ~0.3 points lower to 93.62 yielding 3.6%.
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