Oil giant Saudi Aramco raises $25.6bn in world’s biggest public share listing

in oil •  5 years ago 

Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco has just pulled off the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history, raising $25.6 billion. The IPO, however, fell short of the Saudi Crown Prince’s $2 trillion valuation. 

The company sold 3 billion shares priced at 32 riyals ($8.53) each. 

The mega-float exceeds the record $25 billion listing in 2014 of China’s Alibaba. Aramco has also toppled Apple as the world’s most valuable listed company with a total market value of $1.7 trillion against Apple’s $1.17 trillion. 

Demand from institutional investors, including Saudi funds and companies, reached $106 billion, while retail investment’s demand stood at $12.6 billion. According to the company, around 4.9 million Saudi retail investors have bought shares in the oil giant, including 2.3 million aged 31-45. 

 © Reuters / Ahmed Jadallah 

The record-breaking market listing is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to modernize the Saudi economy and diversify the kingdom away from oil. 

“The amount raised by the IPO itself is relatively contained given the size of the economy and medium-term funding requirement of the transformation plan,” Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, told Reuters. 

“Nevertheless, combined with other areas of funding, we believe that there is meaningful capital in place to progress with the investment plans aimed at diversifying the economy,” she added. 

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Could this be like investing in the last whale oil ship?

Posted using Partiko Android

Yes, if Saudi Arabia is the whole ocean. No, if you consider that oil is abiogenic, and untapped reserves across the world remain uncounted, including the world's largest known reserve of over 2T bbls under Colorado. We're not running out of oil in the 21st Century.

I expect that deeper yet in the lithosphere, where temperature, pressure, and chemicals in rocks are continually squeezing oil out, a thousand times the oil we will ever need remains available. It isn't cheap, but it's cheaper than the Green New Deal or the CO2 starvation of all life on Earth.

Given that it is likely that Ghawar, KSA's largest oil reserve, is mostly depleted, I am surprised the Aramco IPO did as well as it did. I wouldn't touch it with a 12Gbbl pole. I note the continual misinformation published regarding oil reserves, with Venezuela continually listed as the country with the second largest reserves after KSA.

This despite over 2T bbls under Colorado alone in the USA.

Thanks!