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Prince MBS supported Aramco’s IPO in 2019, which raised $29 billion for just a 1.5% equity stake and catapulted the company onto our Global 2000 list, which includes only public companies. The government still owns roughly 90% of Aramco, with another 8% held by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund–the same fund is merging its golf startup, LIV Golf, with the PGA.
Furthermore, at OPEC meetings Aramco’s interests are represented by the closest thing the world has to a central banker for oil: Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al Saud. His ultimate job is to maximize long term revenue for the Kingdom by managing a goldilocks oil price that is not so high as to push people toward electric vehicles, nor so low that they’re leaving petrodollars on the table.
The survivors of the 2020 industry depression are more cautious with capital efficiency, writes Bernstein Research’s Oswald Clint. “The order of cash priorities changed,” with dividend growth above all else. Shell, for example, has canceled U.S. gas-to-diesel, gas-to-chemicals, floating LNG, Arctic exploration and oil sands projects. Even last year’s high prices did not stimulate a big response from American drillers. The U.S. oil supply is running at 12.
Two decades ago, when Forbes launched the first Global 2000 list, ExxonMobil placed no. 4, after Citigroup, General Electric, and American International Group. Exxon back then had the highest profits on the list, at $15.8 billion. That’s just a tenth of Aramco’s haul today.