Aramco’s IPO Could Use a Breather Anyway
The Saudi government has a valid reason to put off the sale and re-evaluate what’s best for the company and the kingdom.
Attacks on one of Aramco’s key oil-processing facilities may have a bearing on the oil giant’s stock sale.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
The weekend attacks on key Saudi Arabian oil facilities roiled oil markets, effectively knocking out 5% of the global supply and sparking the biggest intraday surge in crude prices on Monday. They also served to heighten geopolitical tensions and draw attention to the vulnerability of core infrastructure to unconventional attacks.
As jarring as the assault and reverberations have been, they aren’t – on their own – enough to completely upset the global oil ecosystem. The supply of oil to global customers will largely go undisturbed, with state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. tapping crude from storage to replace the missing oil for export as necessary while working as quickly as possible to repair and restore the damaged facilities.