Shoreline lands $500M from Qatar to push Nigerian oil block past 100,000 bpd
What's the deal? Shoreline Natural ResourcesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has secured a $500 million Islamic financing package arranged by Qatar Islamic BankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the lead lender. The debt will fund a drilling programme to lift output from OML 30, one of Nigeria's largest onshore oil blocks, above 100,000 barrels a day by the end of 2027.
Who's behind it? Shoreline is the upstream arm of a group run by Kola Karim, a British national of Nigerian descent who serves as group managing director and chief executive. The company holds 45% of OML 30 in the Niger Delta, which it bought from Shell in 2012 in a joint venture with Heritage OilDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
Why it's notable: This ranks among the largest debt rounds ever recorded in Nigeria, sitting in the 93rd percentile across 184 such deals. It also marks a shift toward the Gulf: Shoreline's previous $530 million package in 2018 involved VitolDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Farallon Capital ManagementDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and four Nigerian banks.
How the financing works: A sharia-compliant structure cannot charge interest, so the lender takes a share of the asset or revenue instead. That ties what the bank earns to whether the wells produce. Qatar Islamic Bank is the largest Islamic lender in Qatar, holding roughly 43% of that sector and 11% of the country's banking market.
The backdrop: Shoreline has chased the 100,000-barrel target for years, with production reported between 45,000 and 70,000 barrels a day at various points. The block owns and operates the Trans Forcados pipeline, which carries crude to the export terminal.
What else is moving: In June, Shoreline took a $200 million dual-tranche facility from AfreximbankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, most of it supporting a $980 million oil field development at Hassi Bir Rekaiz in Algeria. It also bought producing oil assets in the United States earlier this year.
What could go wrong? Neither Shoreline nor Qatar Islamic Bank has published the terms. The 100,000-barrel target has been restated more than once without being met.
The signal: Gulf capital is increasingly funding African energy, and Islamic finance offers producers a revenue-linked alternative to conventional debt. For Karim, the deal extends a widening map that now spans Nigeria, Algeria, and the US.
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Image credit: GorissM
