Kuwait shortlists bidders to raise $7.5bn from pipeline stake sale

State-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has reportedly shortlisted several global companies as it seeks to raise $7.5 billion by selling a stake in its pipeline business.

BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Brookfield Asset Management, EIG Global Energy Partners, Apollo Global Management and KKR & Co are among those expected to proceed to the next bidding round later this month, Bloomberg reported, citing unidentified sources.

Kuwait has been working with JPMorgan Chase & Co and Centerview Partners since September 2025, initially aiming to raise between $5 and $7 billion. KPC plans to lease 13 pipelines for 25 years.

This month Shaikh Khaled Ahmad Al-Sabah, managing director at KPC, said Kuwait could return to pre-Iran war oil production within three months once the Strait of Hormuz reopens, which has been effectively closed since the war began on February 28.

He said the country could restore 70 percent of output within six to eight weeks, while the remaining 30 percent could take another month.

• The Gulf is taking one for the team in the Hormuz crisis
• Kuwait Petroleum expects to reach full capacity in 4 months post-war
• Kuwait to speed up petrochemical project after oil merger

Kuwaiti oil facilities were targeted by Iran multiple times before Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire on April 8, including attacks on the Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries.

Kuwait pumped about 2.7 million barrels of crude a day in February, before the conflict began. Output fell to around 1.2 million barrels a day in March.

The announcement is the latest deal in the pipelines sector. Saudi Aramco signed an $11 billion lease-and-leaseback deal in August 2025 for its Jafurah gas processing facilities with a consortium led by GIP. In 2022 BlackRock co-led a consortium of investors in a separate minority investment in Aramco Gas Pipelines Company.

In 2019 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) launched the Adnoc Oil Pipelines subsidiary and leased its 18-pipeline interest for 23 years to a consortium including BlackRock and KKR, raising $4 billion.

Oman sold a 49 percent stake in its gas pipeline unit, OQ Gas Networks, via an IPO, raising about $750 million in 2023.