JBIC set to provide $5.2b to fund projects in UAE

Tokyo: Japan's state-backed bank yesterday signed deals to co-finance multi-billion dollar loans to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) and a UAE power project, industry sources said.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed a deal in Tokyo to co-finance up to $3 billion in loans to the state-run Adnoc, on top of a $2.2 billion loan to the UAE's power and water desalination plant project, in which Japan's Marubeni Corp won a stake earlier this year.

The signing, which coincided with the visit by General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, came after the two nations pledged to further promote co-operation in energy.

The UAE is the second-biggest crude oil supplier to Japan after Saudi Arabia, supplying about 25 per cent of the country's crude needs.

The state-backed Jap-anese bank signed a strategic partnership with Adnoc earlier this year in a bid to deepen bilateral ties in the oil and gas sector and secure long-term crude oil supply deals for Japanese oil firms.

Adnoc will get the proceeds as a form of an advanced payment for crude oil sales to Japanese oil firms, and return it via the long-term crude exports to Japan, the sources said.

The signing also comes a few months after an investment arm of the UAE's Abu Dhabi government, International Petroleum Investment Co (Ipic), struck a deal to buy one-fifth of Cosmo Oil Co for $776 million, becoming the top shareholder in Japan's fourth-largest oil refiner.

Among other bilateral deals signed yesterday, Cosmo Oil said it and the UAE would co-develop a power generation system using solar energy.

Japan's top oil refiner Nippon Oil Corp also agreed on a memorandum of understanding to conduct a joint survey on whether it would be economically feasible to manufacture material similar to concrete by recycling sulphur from oil fields.

Committee meets

The uae-japan joint economic committee held its first meeting yesterday. The UAE side was headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, while the Japanese side was chaired by his counterpart Masahiko Koumura.