Saudi Aramco Is Coming Out to Play
It's expanding even as oil majors pull in their horns, though its goals may not be strictly commercial.
A Saudi Aramco oil facility.
Photographer: HASSAN AMMAR/AFP/Getty Images
According to Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy and industry minister and chairman of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., “the world is going to be Saudi Aramco’s playground.” If it is, then that will be partly because some others have ceded ground.
In an interview with the Financial Times published this week, Al-Falih sketched out plans for Saudi Aramco to build an international exploration and production business for the first time. Traditionally, Aramco refrained from making direct investments in upstream projects elsewhere (as opposed to downstream projects such as refineries, where it remains quite active).