The Saudi Arabian oil industry was in the spotlight on Thursday for more than its hard line on production cuts, as the country’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman told Reuters that the country’s national oil giant is on target for an initial public offering sometime next year. The company could be valued at over $2 trillion, the Prince noted. Prince bin Salman has been a long-time supporter of diversifying the country’s economy and expanding beyond oil production, a goal which is expected to loom closer with Aramco’s IPO.
Skeptics argue that the IPO will be delayed past 2018 because a decision on which exchange the stock will be traded hasn’t yet been made. Detractors further argue that the choice of an international IPO would be logistically challenging, if not impossible. Analysts are eagerly watching the developments of this IPO as it is projected to be the biggest IPO globally to date. The company’s valuation is also closely linked to the price of oil which is still hovering below $60 per barrel, a price that the Saudis have identified as a critical level.
To help keep oil prices stable, Saudi energy ministers have been staunch supporters of OPEC’s production cuts which are now in force until March 2018. Despite the cuts, and increase in U.S. production has kept oil prices from rising dramatically, though resent slowdowns in U.S. production have helped bring a marginal uptick in oil prices.
U.S. WTI futures were trading at $52.21 per barrel as of 12:03 p.m London time, a modest increase since the end of the Asian trading session, while Brent crude futures were trading on even ground at $58.36 per barrel.