Why is Aramco's plan to enter the stock market controversial?

 05 Nov 2019 ( News Bureau )
POSTER

Aramco, the world's highest profitable company, has confirmed to launch an IPO to enter the stock market. It may be the world's largest initial public offering.

The Saudi Arabian oil company said on Sunday that it had planned to be listed on the Riyadh Stock Exchange.

The company, owned by the Saudi Arabian royal family, will decide the IPO launch price according to investor registration and interest.

Business sources believe that one or two percent of the company's existing shares can be made available.

Aramco is said to be worth $ 1.3 trillion ($ 927 billion).

The company said that at present it has no plans to enter the foreign stock market.

Yasir al-Rumyan, chairman of the Aramco board, said at a press conference, "We will tell you about the future of the international stock market."

The history of Saudi Aramco dates back to 1933, when a deal was struck between Saudi Arabia and Standard Oil Company of California (Chevron).

The deal was related to the formation of a new company for exploration and excavation of oil wells. Later, between 1973-1980, Saudi Arabia bought the entire company.

According to the Energy Information Administration, Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves after Venezuela. Saudi Arabia is second only to the US in oil production.

In terms of oil, Saudi Arabia also gets priority over the rest of the countries because it has a monopoly on oil in the entire country and extracting oil here is also relatively cheap.

According to David Hunter, director of market studies at Shenderr Electric (Energy Management Company), Aramco is definitely the largest company in the world.

"It is bigger than all the other oil and gas companies," said Shender.

If you compare with some big companies of the world, in 2018, Apple's revenue was $ 59.5 billion. Along with this, other oil companies Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil are also far behind in this race.

It is the world's largest oil company with a production of 10 million barrels per day and earning US $ 356,000 million.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has announced to sell 20% of his oil company's shares to Aramco. This will be Aramco's largest foreign investment ever in India.

Chief market analyst Chris Baun at IG Group says that there are risks to investing in Aramco. There are also strategic and political risks to the company.

These threats were also revealed in September this year when Aramco-owned plants were attacked. In Saudi Arabia, two of the company's plants were attacked by drones, which caught fire and caused a lot of damage.

However, the company's chief executive Amin Nasser described the company's plans as 'historic'. He said that Aramco is still the most reliable oil company in the world.

On the occasion of the IPO launch, Aramco was told that the recent attacks will not affect its business, financial condition and operation.

Middle East affairs expert Qamar Aga told the BBC, "American and European investors are not keen on taking risks due to economic slowdown and lack of money in the market. Investors are also skeptical about Saudi Arabia's role in the ongoing war in Yemen.''

The Saudi-led coalition has waged a struggle against the Houthi rebels in Yemen for nearly four years. The Huti rebels also claimed responsibility for the attack on Saudi oil plants in September. But the US and Saudi Arabia held Iran responsible for the attack.

According to Qamar Aga, an important question is also how much oil reserves are left with Saudi Arabia because it is decreasing day by day. Secondly, there is a considerable consumption of oil in Saudi's domestic market as well.

There was a time when Aramco was considered a mysterious company but in the last few years it has completely transformed itself. Today the company has prepared itself carefully for where it has reached.

The company has to spend many years preparing for this. According to Forbes magazine, "In 2016, Aramco did not even have accounting books according to international standards. Neither did he have formal records of institutional charts and structures.''

Aramco has started publishing its economic data since the drone strikes in September. The company now also regularly conducts question-and-answer programs for journalists. Not only that, Aramco had also taken journalists to the drone attack site.

The company has appointed women for some top positions. International concerns have also been mentioned by the company announced on Sunday.

The company has said that its objective is to recycle crude oil for a long time. Introducing accountability towards the environment, Aramco has said that it will reduce the damage to the environment by using modern technology.

The company has said that the local people, even divorced women, will be able to buy its shares and they will be given a bonus for every 10 shares.

Saudi Arabia wants to sell Aramco's shares because it wants to reduce the economy's dependence on oil.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, through his 'Vision 2030', wants to take the country's economy to different regions.

According to David Hunter, Saudi Arabia also wants to get ahead in the production of solar energy by using its vast desert.

Hunter says, "The situation is politically complex for Aramco at the present time. The main reason for this is the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashojji in the last year. Saudi Arabia's record in human rights is not good, so anything related to it Is viewed with suspicion. ''

Another difficulty may be in Mohammed bin Salman's plan, this time there is a worldwide campaign against fossil fuels.

David Hunter says, "It may be difficult for Aramco even further because the trend of investors is decreasing from fossil fuels at the moment and they are looking for new options."

Qamar Aga feels that there are many positive aspects of Aramco, but it will have to wait to see how many investors will be able to attract them.

Aga says that if the company fails to pull investors, then it will have the most impact on him and Saudi Arabia.

 

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