TAQA Arabia, an energy company, has formed a joint venture with the National Gas Distribution Company (NGDC) in Saudi Arabia, under the name First Gas Company. The new company has a capital of SAR 500,000 ($133,000) and will be equally owned by both partners.
The company said in a statement that the purpose of establishing the company is to extend, maintain, and repair oil and gas pipelines, and transport natural gas through pipelines.
This is not the first expansion move by TAQA Arabia in the region. The company recently announced that it submitted a non-binding offer to buy a stake in the fuel stations of Wataniya Petroleum, a subsidiary of the National Service Products Organization (NSPO) in Egypt. The company agreed with the entities managing the process not to disclose any information to the stock exchange.
The company qualified for the second stage from the list of advanced companies and was invited to start the due diligence procedures. The means of financing were not specified, according to the statement at the time.
The company’s consolidated net profit declined by 13% to EGP 167.3m in the first half of the year, compared to EGP 192.35m during the same period last year.
The company’s revenues increased during the first half of this year to reach EGP 6.15bn compared to EGP 4.78bn in the same period last year, a growth of 29%. This was driven by the strong performance of the natural gas sector and the growth in the volume of compressed natural gas distribution after increasing the number of stations. The rise in selling prices in the petroleum products distribution sector also contributed to revenue growth.
