At a Glance
- GIP invests $1.18 billion with Eni to expand carbon capture projects across Europe and Italy.
- Ogunlesi leads $11 billion Aramco deal, securing stake in Saudi Arabia’s Jafurah gas facilities.
- Global AI Infrastructure Partnership launches $30 billion plan for next-generation data centers worldwide.
Since Nigerian billionaire Adebayo Ogunlesi joined the board of OpenAI in January 2025, following BlackRock’s $12.5 billion acquisition of his Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in late 2024, the infrastructure giant has pressed ahead with its most aggressive expansion yet.
Backed by BlackRock’s scale, GIP has pivoted sharply toward sectors tied to the energy transition and digital economy, rolling out more than $40 billion in fresh deals spanning carbon capture, artificial intelligence, gas processing, and digital infrastructure.
€1 billion ($1.18 billion) bet on carbon capture with Eni
In August 2025, GIP acquired a 49.99 percent co-control stake in Eni CCUS Holding for about €1 billion ($1.18 billion).
The venture gives Ogunlesi’s firm a significant foothold in Europe’s carbon management industry, anchoring projects in the UK’s Liverpool Bay and Bacton and the Netherlands’ L10 field.
Each UK site targets 10 million tonnes of annual carbon capture by 2030. GIP also secured rights to half of Italy’s Ravenna CCS project.
$11 billion Aramco midstream deal
The same month, GIP led a consortium in an $11 billion lease-and-leaseback deal involving Saudi Aramco’s Jafurah gas processing facilities.
The newly created Aramco Jafurah Midstream Gas Company will operate key assets under a 20-year agreement, with Aramco retaining majority control and GIP holding 49 percent.
Jafurah is Saudi Arabia’s largest non-associated gas field, estimated to hold 229 trillion cubic feet of raw gas.
$30 billion AI infrastructure partnership
Ogunlesi has also placed GIP at the center of the artificial intelligence boom.
Alongside BlackRock, Microsoft, and MGX—and later NVIDIA and Elon Musk’s xAI—GIP co-founded the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership, seeded with $30 billion and capable of mobilizing up to $100 billion.
The consortium is building next-generation AI data centers and energy systems across the U.S. and allied economies, with GE Vernova and NextEra Energy providing industrial support.
$1 billion ASEAN digital expansion
In May 2025, GIP teamed up with Charoen Pokphand Group and True IDC, Thailand’s top data center operator, to expand digital infrastructure across Southeast Asia. The partners plan to deploy over $1 billion within five years to meet surging connectivity demand in emerging ASEAN markets.
Accelerated scale under BlackRock
Together, these moves underscore how BlackRock’s acquisition has accelerated GIP’s deal-making capacity. Once focused on airports, pipelines, and traditional infrastructure, the firm under Ogunlesi is now committing billions to industries that will define the next phase of the global economy—carbon capture, AI, energy transition, and digital connectivity.
