Is Saudi Aramco cooling on crude oil?
Don’t bet on it
HAS SAUDI ARABIA stopped believing in a future for petroleum? In recent weeks the question has hung over Saudi Aramco. The desert kingdom’s national oil goliath has a central position in the world’s oil markets. Its market value of $2trn, five times that of the second-biggest oil firm, ExxonMobil, is predicated on bountiful reserves of crude and a peerless ability to tap them cheaply and, as oil goes, cleanly. So the Saudi energy ministry stunned many industry-watchers in January by suspending the firm’s plans to expand oil-production capacity from 12m to 13m barrels per day (b/d). Did the kingpin of crude finally accept that oil demand would soon peak?
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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Not beyond petroleum”
From the March 16th 2024 edition
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