Aramco CEO: Oil demand growing

Saudi Aramco is in the final stages of preparing options for its initial public offer of shares before presenting the options soon to its Supreme Council for consideration, chief executive Amin Nasser said on Tuesday.

Saudi Aramco has a huge team working on the options, which include a share listing in Saudi Arabia, a dual listing with a foreign market, and listings in more than two places, Nasser told reporters.

Nasser said the company’s reporting and procedures were aligned with the best in the industry and it would share more information with the public as required for an IPO.

Addressing media speculation, he said Saudi Aramco was not talking to Exxon, BP or Sinopec about them buying a stake in the company through the listing.

Nasser also said that he expected total oil demand to grow by 1.2 million barrels a day this year.

“We are seeing increases (in demand) in India, in the US, and we are meeting that call on us,” he said in a news conference in Dhahran.
He said that Saudi Aramco plans “significant growth” in output in 2016 and further international expansion.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., also known as Saudi Aramco, will boost capacity at the Shaybah oil field by 33 percent to 1 million barrels a day in the next couple of weeks and will double natural gas production over the next decade, Amin Nasser told reporters.

“Even though it is challenging, it’s still an opportunity for us to grow,” Nasser said of the international expansion plans.

Oil prices have seen a slight recovery over the past few months of 2016 after falling sharply from the peak that they reached in 2014.

In mid-2014, Brent crude stood at $115 a barrel, falling to below $30 a barrel in January for the first time in 12 years. It is now trading at just under $44 a barrel.

Nasser said he planned to grow every part of the business and described the current market as a “great opportunity for significant growth.”

He added that he was looking at joint ventures around the world, including in Indonesia, India, the United States, Vietnam and China.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to reduce its reliance on oil sales amid lower prices for its most lucrative export. As part of that effort, Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, wants to sell stock in Saudi Aramco for the first time, creating what could be the world’s largest listed company.

“Saudi Arabia will maintain its stable petroleum policies. We remain committed to maintaining our role in international energy markets and strengthening our position as the world’s most reliable supplier of energy,” Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Aramco chairman and minister of energy, industry and mineral resources, said in a statement on Sunday, his first day in office.