Rabigh Wins Islamic Project Finance Deal of the Year
January 30, 2007, Euromoney Islamic Finance Awards

The White & Case team that worked on the ground-breaking Rabigh project financing has scooped its second award for the deal. Having already been named "Middle East Project Finance Deal of the Year" by International Financial Law Review, the deal was named "Islamic Project Finance Deal of the Year" at the Euromoney Islamic Finance Awards 2007 held on 30 January.

White & Case advised Saudi Aramco in its US$9.9 billion joint venture with Sumitomo Chemicals for the development of an existing 400,000 barrel-per-day refinery at Rabigh, on Saudi Arabia's western coast, into a major integrated refinery and petrochemical complex. The deal was the first project financing undertaken by Saudi Aramco, the largest project financing to date in Saudi Arabia, and included the largest long-term Islamic project financing so far in the Middle East.

London partner Craig Nethercott led the financing negotiations with New York partner Christopher Cross. Steve Payne, counsel in the Washington, DC office, advised Saudi Aramco on the power and steam project.

Christopher Cross also led a multi-office and multi-disciplinary team that advised Saudi Aramco on all aspects of the deal, including: corporate structuring, project development, technology, and environmental matters.

Amongst others, partners Mohammed Al Sheikh (Riyadh), Steve Betensky and Rick Horsch (New York) and associates Clement Fondufe (New York), Mark Shalaby (Washington, DC), Euan Pinkerton, Ed Hills and Harjaskaran Rai (London) worked on the team. White & Case has represented Saudi Aramco and its predecessor company, the Arabian American Oil Company, for more than half a century.

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