Nogaholding, the holding company for oil and gas assets owned by the government of Bahrain, signed to obtain a five-year, $570 million murabaha financing facility, it said on Wednesday.

The Islamic funding will support investment in a number of large oil and gas projects in the kingdom, including the Bapco Modernisation Programme, a liquefied natural gas import terminal, and the Bahrain Gas Plant Project, it said.

The facility is provided by 10 international, regional and local institutions: Arab Banking Corp, Ahli United Bank, Arab Petroleum Investments Corp, Gulf International Bank, National Bank of Bahrain, Qatar Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas and HSBC.

Murabaha financing is a cost-plus-profit arrangement which complies with Islamic finance standards.

The facility is 60 per cent larger than originally envisaged, the company said; in November, Reuters reported that Nogaholding was seeking a $350 million sharia-compliant loan, the first for the group.-Reuters