Saudi Aramco IPO listing this week in Riyadh Stock Exchange will surpass America’s Apple as the biggest listed company in the world.
Last month Gulf oil giant floated IPO for $20-40 billion of 1.5% of Aramco’s wealth. It was subscribed 4.65 times and collected $119 billion which is world’s record in the history of IPO. This IPO was lingering since 2017 due to disturbed Middle East and Trump’s tariffs and sanctions on China and Europe.
But Prince Salman lost his patience after drone strike of Aramco’s refinery in September’19 and decided to float at Riyadh stock exchange. For this IPO British PM Thresa May visited Saudi Arabia in 2017 along with the Chairman of London Stock Exchange to list in London. Shinzo Abe of Japan also visited Riyadh in 2017 to request for Tokyo listing.
Abe may visit Saudi Arabia in mid-January next year to defuse tensions in the Middle East and serve as a bridge between Washington and Tehran. Abe’s visit to Iran in June, the first by a Japanese prime minister in about four decades, did not yield substantive progress.
Stability of Middle East is not only important for Saudi Arabia or Iran but for the whole world for supply of oil and gas. The OPEC+ has decided to reduce oil supply next year, an strategy adopted by oil cartel in 1990s by increasing price and reducing production.
(The International Energy Agency’s report in September pointed to a 50% increase in the minimum energy requirement in 2050 scenarios. On a global scale, the energy needs of the industry are expected to increase by 30% between 2018 and 2050, while the energy requirement of the transportation sector is expected to increase by 40% in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries and by 80% in non-OECD countries).