Kuwait Oil Company Inks Historic $16B Pipeline Deal with Blackstone, Brookfield, and KKR
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has signed a $16 billion lease-and-lease-back agreement involving its domestic and export pipeline network with a consortium of institutional infrastructure investors led by Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR, marking the largest foreign direct investment in Kuwait’s history.
The transaction, executed through KPC’s wholly owned subsidiary Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), establishes a newly formed Kuwait-based joint venture that will lease the usage rights to KOC’s 13 domestic and export pipelines, spanning approximately 320 kilometers, while KOC retains operational control of the strategic energy infrastructure.
Under the agreement, the joint venture will lease the pipeline usage rights from KOC and immediately grant back exclusive operating, maintenance and usage rights to KOC under a 20.5-year lease in exchange for a volume-based tariff. KOC will continue to own and operate the pipeline system, and the arrangement will not affect Kuwait’s oil production or refining decisions, which remain under state control.
The new venture will be 51% owned by KOC, with the remaining 49% held equally by Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR.
The transaction is expected to generate $7.85 billion in upfront proceeds for KOC upon closing, providing capital to support KPC’s long-term investment program, including its goal of increasing crude oil production capacity to four million barrels per day by 2035.
“Project Peregrine represents the largest foreign direct investment in Kuwait’s history and a defining milestone for our country’s economic development,” said Shaikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah, deputy chairman and chief executive officer of KPC.
KKR co-chief executive officers Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall said the investment reflects the firm’s long-term confidence in Kuwait and its strategic infrastructure sector.
Brookfield chief executive officer Bruce Flatt and Blackstone chairman and chief executive officer Stephen Schwarzman also highlighted their firms’ longstanding relationships with Kuwait, with Schwarzman noting Blackstone’s investment partnership with the country spans more than four decades.
The consortium’s recent Kuwait ties extend beyond energy. The Kuwait Investment Authority, Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, is an anchor investor in a Brookfield AI infrastructure investment program launched in late 2025 and in Helix Digital Infrastructure, the AI financing vehicle KKR launched in June.
Centerview Partners, HSBC and J.P. Morgan served as financial advisors to KPC.