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Aramco will retain majority ownership of the assets and

remain

the operator - source

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Jafurah potentially biggest shale gas project outside of

U.S.

By Sarah McFarlane and Hadeel Al Sayegh

LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - Saudi oil giant Aramco

is seeking investors in infrastructure, including

pipelines, for its $100 billion Jafurah gas project, two people

familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Jafurah project is key to Saudi Aramco's ambitions to

become a major global player in natural gas and to boost its gas

production capacity by 60% by 2030 from 2021 levels.

Jafurah, potentially the biggest shale gas project outside

of the United States, is expected to begin output this year and

ramp up to 2 billion cubic feet per day by 2030. U.S. shale gas

production in 2024 was around 80 billion cubic feet per day.

Aramco will retain majority ownership of the assets and

remain the operator, one of the two people said. The investment

in Jafurah will help develop the project, the second person

said.

The two people spoke on condition of anonymity because the

process is private.

Aramco declined to comment.

The potential deal around Jafurah will allow Aramco to raise

funds at a time of falling oil prices and would follow efforts

by the oil giant in recent years to place stakes in its

infrastructure with funds.

BlackRock ( BLK ) and EIG were among investor groups that

took minority stakes in Aramco's oil and gas pipeline networks

in two separate deals in 2021, helping the firm raise nearly $28

billion.

These groups took 49% stakes in subsidiaries Aramco Oil

Pipelines and Aramco Gas Pipelines, in which Aramco retains 51%

stakes. The subsidiaries receive a tariff from Aramco for flows

of crude and natural gas, backed by minimum commitments on

throughput.

For the Jafurah project, Aramco is building infrastructure

including a gas processing plant, a natural gas liquids

fractionation plant, a gas-compression system, and a network of

around 1,500 km (932 miles) of pipelines. Total investments in

Jafurah will exceed $100 billion over the next 15 years, Aramco

Chief Executive Amin Nasser told local media earlier this year.