How are energy projects being financed? Large-scale projects - whether they’re gas processing facilities, extraction of hydrocarbons or the development of wind and solar - usually run into the billions.
The development of such large facilities requires a massive amount of capital upfront. During the Pennsylvania oil boom of the late 1800s, steely-minded entrepreneurs such as John D Rockefeller and Henry Flagler used their own equity but also borrowed heavily from banks to finance the early start-up of the US oil industry. Big Oil companies would eventually grow to their size and scale by tapping their cashflows for investment and accessing bank credit.
National oil companies, particularly in the Middle East, have largely been self-funded. However, with the volatility in the oil markets and changes in consumption patterns, state oil companies are increasingly monetising parts of their business. Renewable energy projects are also seeking private credit and new ways of accessing capital.
This week, I take a look at how some critical energy projects in the region are being built.
Last week saw a few major deals in the region. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company raised $11 billion in structured financing from a consortium of 20 banks to develop gas processing facilities for its Hail and Ghasha concessions. The company will use the “pre-finance” amount to help construct facilities that will be used to process the ultra sour gas, which is expected to come online by the end of the decade. Hail and Ghasha are developed by Adnoc with its partners - Italy’s Eni and Thailand’s PTT. Russia’s Lukoil, which was one of the upstream stakeholders, exited the concession in November.
What does this financing model do?
It shifts repayment responsibility off Adnoc, Eni and PTT’s balance sheets, with the liability sitting entirely with the project.
Are the funds available immediately then?
According to sources close to the project, the funds will be available in “staggered phases” from the financiers, who also include Chinese banks
Adnoc also secured $2 billion for low-carbon energy projects from South Korea’s export credit agency last week. Asian investors including Japan Bank for International Co-operation have contributed to $5 billion in green financing to help Adnoc progress projects that will lower its carbon emissions.
ACWA Power, Saudi Arabia’s power developer, also secured an unspecified amount for a desalination project from KKR last week. It marked the asset manager’s first foray into the kingdom. Alterra, the UAE’s $30 billion climate fund, is meanwhile investing in a fund managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to support the global expansion of renewable energy.
Meanwhile, Libya is inviting foreign companies to invest millions of dollars in greenfield projects to help raise production capacity stalled due to years of fractious politics. An Opec member, Libya is opening its oilfields to new investment for the first time in more than 17 years, aiming to raise output to 2 million barrels per day by 2030 from about 1.4 million bpd.
Who has qualified?
International oil companies, including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Eni, Shell and OMV, have qualified for a new licensing round covering 22 oil exploration and development areas, split evenly between offshore and onshore blocks.
What can we expect?
“It’s reasonable to expect several hundred million to be committed in the round, higher if companies bid up offshore blocks,” Martijn Murphy, principal analyst for North Africa Upstream at Wood Mackenzie, told my colleague Fareed Rahman.
Jargon buster
Non-recourse financing: In which lenders are paid directly from the project's cash flow and not from the balance sheet of concession operators.
Big number
$2.85 per gallon
US holiday makers are in for a treat as US petrol prices fell to the lowest so far this year on Monday. Petrol prices have remained below $3 per gallon this month.
Special mention
Big Oil has its first female chief executive. Meg O’Neill will become the first woman to lead one of the world’s five largest oil companies from April 1, as BP refocuses on oil and gas after its push into renewables
Meg O’Neill speaks at an energy conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in June. Reuters
Australia 2nd; Bahrain 3rd; China 4th; Azerbaijan 1st; Spain 1st; Monaco 3rd; Canada 5th; France 1st; Austria DNF; Britain 2nd; Germany 1st; Hungary 1st; Belgium 2nd; Italy 1st; Singapore 1st; Russia 1st; Japan 1st; United States 3rd; Mexico 4th
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at. Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti withCoastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
Tottenham's 10 biggest transfers (according to transfermarkt.com):
1). Moussa Sissokho - Newcastle United - £30 million (Dh143m): Flop
2). Roberto Soldado - Valencia - £25m: Flop
3). Erik Lamela - Roma - £25m: Jury still out
4). Son Heung-min - Bayer Leverkusen - £25m: Success
5). Darren Bent - Charlton Athletic - £21m: Flop
6). Vincent Janssen - AZ Alkmaar - £18m: Flop
7). David Bentley - Blackburn Rovers - £18m: Flop
8). Luka Modric - Dynamo Zagreb - £17m: Success
9). Paulinho - Corinthians - £16m: Flop
10). Mousa Dembele - Fulham - £16m: Success
Glossary of a stock market revolution
Reddit
A discussion website
Redditor
The users of Reddit
Robinhood
A smartphone app for buying and selling shares
Short seller
Selling a stock today in the belief its price will fall in the future
Short squeeze
Traders forced to buy a stock they are shorting
Naked short
An illegal practice
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
