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28 March 2024

QIB to study funding plan for $5bn refinery

Salah Jaidah, CEO of QIB.

Published
By Reuters

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has agreed to study a plan to raise funds for a $5 billion (Dh18.35bn) refinery and petrochemicals project in Malaysia, the bank said.

Under an initial agreement signed with a Malaysian unit of Gulf Petroleum Ltd, Qatar Islamic "would study and eventually lead a consortium of banks and financial institutions to arrange the funding covering both financing and equity elements of the project", the bank said in a statement.

Qatar-based Gulf Petroleum in April secured Malaysian regulatory approval to develop the complex in the northern state of Perak. The project will also include a petroleum terminal, said the Qatari bank, which already has a subsidiary in the country.

Gulf Petroleum is leading a consortium of Gulf banking and energy firms to build the complex, intended to serve as a regional hub for its Asia-Pacific activities, the company has said.

Gulf Petroleum's shareholders include members of the Qatar royal family, the Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company, Al Mana Group, National Petroleum Group and the banking arm of Al Sari group, it said in March. Gulf Petroleum has said it aims to invest between $1.5bn and $2bn in the project's first phase to build an oil refinery of capacity between 100,000 barrels per day and 150,000 bpd.

"QIB recently entered into joint ventures such as the Abu Funtas Desalination Plant with Qatar Electricity and Water Company, and as an investor in Islamic finance," said Salah Jaidah, CEO of the lender.