SUSTG.com / Research

Discover stories, topics, and more about Saudi Arebia faster.

Recent stories from sustg

  • Saudi Aramco Denies Financial Times Report on Shelving Long-Awaited IPO
     

    Saudi Aramco has denied a report in the London-based Financial Times that the state-controlled company will shelve its plans to list part of the company on international indices in favor of private placements. The Financial Times reports that talks about “a private sale to foreign governments including China and other investors have gathered pace in recent […]

     
  • King Salman Consolidates Development Funds and Promotes New Transportation Minister
     

    Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has created a new organizational body to centralize and consolidate control and management of its economic development funds, called the National Development Fund (NDF), under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The NDF will “link the Saudi Fund for Development, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, the Agricultural Development Fund, the Social Development Bank, the Human […]

     
  • Conflicting Reports on Delay of Saudi Aramco IPO ‘By a Few Months’ as Key Decisions Remain
     

    Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Saudi Aramco is “preparing contingency plans for a possible delay” to the initial public offering of its state-owned oil company “by a few months into 2019,” citing people familiar with the matter. The offering of part of Saudi Aramco is the most visible of the key pieces of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic and social reform […]

     
  • Ambassador Prince Khaled bin Salman Phones Tex. Gov Abbott to Express Saudi Support after Harvey as Students Pitch In
     

    Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States Prince Khaled bin Salman telephoned Texas Governor Greg Abbott to confirm that Saudi Arabia supports the American people following the disaster of Hurricane Harvey. Harvey, which flooded many parts of Texas and Louisiana and caused dozens of deaths and billions in damage, was one of the worst storms to […]

     
  • Dow Chemical to Buy 15% More of Sadara to Boost Stake to 50%
     

    Dow Chemical plans to buy an additional 15 percent stake in its $20 billion joint venture with Saudi Aramco, the companies said on Monday according to reports. The U.S.-Saudi joint venture, named Sadara, aims to transform Saudi Arabia “from a consumer and importer to a global exporter,” according to Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih. U.S.-based Dow Chemical […]

     
  • New York Reportedly Pulls Ahead of London in Aramco Listing Race for ‘Political Considerations’; Final Decision Rests with Crown Prince Mohammed
     

    Despite a report in July that Saudi Aramco’s advisers have reportedly recommended London for the historic listing of the oil company, a new report now says Saudi Arabia favors New York in part because of the strength of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. Reuters originally reported that US disclosure rules were a concern for Saudi authorities. London’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has […]

     
  • Report: Saudi Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih Met With Top Commodity Hedge Funds
     

    Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih met in private with some of the world’s top commodity hedge funds in July, a break from tradition in order to gather investor views on the state of the market, Bloomberg reports. In the past Saudi Arabian officials have criticized the role of speculators and hedge funds in […]

     
  • Rumors Abound Regarding Location(s) of Saudi Aramco IPO Listing
     

    Saudi Aramco’s advisers have recommended London for the historic listing of the oil company, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in an exclusive report. The report said U.S. disclosure rules were a concern for Saudi authorities. London’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed a rule change that would allow state-owned companies, such as Saudi Aramco, to […]

     
  • Saudi Aramco Releases 2016 Annual Review
     

    Last week, Saudi Aramco released its annual review for 2016, a detailed overview of Saudi Arabia’s upstream and downstream energy operations, national strategy, and international activities and investments. The Annual Review for 2016, which is released halfway through the following year, takes on special significance as the Kingdom embarks on its Vision 2030 economic and social […]

     
  • Oversupply in Oil Markets Continues Downward Pressure on Prices
     

    Global oil markets have entered a period of oversupply, putting downward pressure on prices and eliciting calls for the world’s largest producers like Saudi Arabia to act on top of March 2017 OPEC cuts to reduce the glut. Oil prices fell 3 percent on Friday after data showed U.S. production rose last week just as […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Saudi Arabia’s Aramco names presidents for upstream and downstream businesses

    Saudi Arabian oil giant (2222.SE) Aramco on Thursday named Nasir al-Naimi and Mohammed Al Qahtani as presidents of its upstream and downstream businesses, respectively, in a move designed to support the company's growth plans. The newly created positions and appointments, which have been approved by the board, will be effective from July 1, the state oil company said. "We expect this decision to help drive operational and financial performance, supporting our upstream capacity growth and our downstream expansion," Aramco President and Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said in a statement.

  • Saudi Arabia Moves Closer to Another Aramco Stock Offering

    Saudi Arabia’s plans for another multibillion-dollar offering of Aramco stock are gaining fresh momentum, with any deal set to be one of world’s largest share sales in recent years, people with knowledge of the matter said. The kingdom has been working with several advisers to study the feasibility of a follow-on offering on the Riyadh exchange, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It could make a decision as soon as the coming weeks about whether to proceed, they said.

  • Aramco profits are more than enough to fund Saudi Arabia

    The increased dividend from the fourth quarter of last year raises the yield to about 4 percent, closer to that of Western peers such as Shell. But, more importantly, it helped the Saudi government’s overall take, including royalties and taxes, decrease only 3 percent to $47 billion despite the oil price drop – a welcome bounty as the kingdom attempts to fund its economic diversification drive. The state oil firm pays by far the most money in dividends of any listed company worldwide.

  • Aramco profits are more than enough to fund Saudi Arabia

    The increased dividend from the fourth quarter of last year raises the yield to about 4 percent, closer to that of Western peers such as Shell. But, more importantly, it helped the Saudi government’s overall take, including royalties and taxes, decrease only 3 percent to $47 billion despite the oil price drop – a welcome bounty as the kingdom attempts to fund its economic diversification drive. The state oil firm pays by far the most money in dividends of any listed company worldwide.

  • Saudi Aramco struggling to find buyers for its blue hydrogen due to high costs

    Amin Nasser told a call with analysts yesterday that blue hydrogen could cost the equivalent of about $250 a barrel of oil — more than three times higher than the current Brent spot price. “It is very difficult to identify any off-take agreement in Europe [for blue hydrogen]... and they explained it's because of the the high cost,” he said.

  • Saudi Aramco to begin bitumen exports from Yanbu

    State-controlled Saudi Aramco will begin bitumen cargo exports in June from Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, home to the 400,000 b/d Yasref refinery. The company's base oils arm Luberef, which will handle the export business, plans to ship its first bitumen cargo of around 5,000t from Yanbu at the end of June. It wants to export up to 500,000 t/yr from the facility. Aramco operates the Yasref refinery in a 50:50 joint venture with China's state-run Sinopec. The move would add to global supply at a time when concerns over bitumen production and availability in many parts of Europe have been heightened by the EU and UK ban on imports of Russian crude, refinery feedstocks and bitumen.

  • Saudi Aramco to Postpone Mega IPO of Energy Trading Unit

    Aramco had been planning to list the business in late 2022 or early this year and was considering seeking a valuation of more than $30 billion, Bloomberg News reported previously. It now feels it could be difficult to list such a large business on the Riyadh bourse at the moment, the people said. The Saudi firm also wants to take more time to complete the integration of its main trading unit with the trading arm of its US refining business Motiva Enterprises LLC before proceeding with the IPO, the people said.

  • Aramco Set to Boost Payouts for Saudi Government and Investors

    Aramco said in March it wanted to grow the dividend over the coming years, after increasing it by 4% in March. It has come under pressure to pay more to boost the attractiveness of the stock relative to rivals such as BP Plc and Shell Plc. The new “performance-linked dividends” will be calculated as 50%-70% of Saudi Aramco’s annual free cash flow, net of the base payout and external investments, the world’s largest energy company said on Tuesday, shortly before it released earnings. The amount will be “determined with the annual results.”

  • Aramco Set to Boost Payouts for Saudi Government and Investors

    Aramco plans an additional dividend, potentially boosting payouts for investors and Saudi Arabia’s government by more than $10 billion, just as weaker oil prices edge the kingdom’s budget into a deficit. The move could increase Aramco’s shareholder payout — which at $75.8 billion last year was already the highest of any listed firm — by more than $20 billion in 2023, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. RBC Capital Markets LLC forecasts an increment of $12 billion to $18 billion.

  • Lower oil prices push Saudi oil giant Aramco’s first quarter profit down 19%

    Saudi oil giant Aramco's (2222.SE) first quarter net profit dropped 19% from a year earlier to 119.54 billion riyals ($31.88 billion), it said on Tuesday, due to lower crude prices. Profit still beat analysts' median forecast of $30.8 billion, according to Refinitiv data, and Aramco said the decline was partially offset by lower taxes including in the zakat Islamic tax and a rise in finance and other income.