Bahrain’s Nogaholding, investment arm of government’s National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), has signed a five-year $570mn multi-bank Murabaha facility to help fund development of a number of large scale petroleum projects. The facility size was increased by 60% because of investor demand despite volatile market conditions resulting from low oil prices, state Bahrain News Agency (BNA) says.

Nogaholding expects to invest over $7bn across several separate ventures in the next five years. The three main projects to be financed are: an expansion of Bahrain’s only refinery in tandem with the replacement of a pipeline bringing feedstock for the plant from Saudi Arabia; development of an LNG import terminal; and expansion of the state gas firm Banagas processing plant. Ten banks are providing the funding: Bahrain’s Arab Banking Corp (ABC), Ahli United Bank, Gulf International Bank and National Bank of Bahrain; Saudi Arabia’s Apicorp; Qatar Islamic Bank; Kuwait Finance House; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi; BNP Paribas and HSBC. (CONTINUED - 339 WORDS)