Japan's Marubeni to supply power, steam in Saudi Arabia

Japan's major trading firm Marubeni Corp. will supply electricity and steam to huge petroleum-related complexes in Saudi Arabia as part of a project involving state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco, a leading business daily here reported Thursday. The project will entail installing cogeneration power systems at three complexes in eastern Saudi Arabia to generate a combined 840,000 kw of power and 1,478 tons of steam an hour, the Nikkei newspaper said. Total costs are estimated at slightly more than USD 600 million, the report said, adding that Marubeni has recently obtained preferential negotiating rights for the business. Together with two partners, Marubeni will set up an independent power provider (IPP) in September. The new firm will be owned 50 percent by Saudi Aramco, 25 percent by Marubeni and 15 percent by Japan's JGC Corp. For 20 years starting from 2016, the cogeneration systems will burn natural gas supplied by Saudi Aramco. Marubeni has been working to expand into power generation and other non-resource fields.