Oil prices rose on Friday evening to their highest levels in more than 7 months, ending a two-week losing streak, supported by expectations of supply shortages.
It is widely expected that Saudi Arabia will extend a voluntary cut in oil production by one million barrels per day to October, prolonging supply restrictions announced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies in the bloc known as “OPEC +” to support prices.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said, Thursday, that his country, (the second largest oil exporter in the world), has already agreed with its OPEC + partners to reduce oil exports next month.
Brent crude rose $1.66, or 1.9 percent, to settle at $88.49 a barrel. It had risen during the session to $88.75 a barrel, the highest level since January 27.
US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.39, or about 1.7 percent, to $85.02 a barrel. It earlier rose to $85.81, its highest since November 16.
The price of Brent crude rose about 4.8 percent this week, marking the largest weekly increase since late July. The price of US West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 7.2 percent, its biggest weekly gain since March.
Selling «Aramco»
And the Wall Street Journal reported, on Friday, that Saudi Aramco is considering selling a stake worth up to $50 billion through a secondary offering of shares in the Saudi market, after consultations with advisors.
The report said the sale could take place before the end of the year, and Aramco was “soliciting opinions” from potential investors, such as other multinational oil companies and sovereign wealth funds, about participating in the deal.
The report quoted Saudi officials and sources familiar with the plan as saying that the Kingdom decided that any new offering of Aramco would be through the Saudi market in order to avoid any legal risks associated with any international listing.
Aramco declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Friday.
Aramco is the largest oil company in the world, with a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion. Its shares are up 19.6 percent this year.
The company completed the world’s largest initial public offering in late 2019, raising $25.6 billion, and later sold more shares, bringing the total raised to $29.4 billion.
The newspaper pointed out that Saudi Arabia had previously planned to sell Aramco shares at a value of 50 billion last year, but it did not move forward with that after it saw that market conditions were not favorable.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced in January 2021 that Aramco would sell more shares, and that the proceeds would be directed to support the Public Investment Fund.
“There will be offerings of Aramco shares in the coming years, and this cash will be transferred to the Public Investment Fund, to be re-pumped inside and outside the Kingdom,” the prince said at a conference on the Kingdom’s Future Investment Initiative.
The Public Investment Fund, which sometimes receives government funding, spent 120 billion riyals ($32 billion) domestically last year, as it sought to implement an economic agenda to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil by developing new industries.
The fund, which manages assets worth about $700 billion, stated in its annual report published last month that it recorded a comprehensive loss of 58.54 billion riyals ($15.61 billion) last year.
Last month, Aramco also announced additional dividends of close to $10 billion, most of which will go to the government, in the first of several payments on top of the planned $153 billion basic dividends for 2022 and 2023.
And it reported a decrease in its net income in the second quarter of the year by 38 percent to 112.81 billion riyals, compared to the same period of the previous year.
Iraq revenue
For its part, the Iraqi Oil Ministry announced (Friday) the export of more than 106 million barrels of crude oil, with revenues amounting to about $9 billion during the month of August.
The ministry said, in a statement, that the total oil exports during the month of August amounted to 106,122,874 barrels, indicating that it achieved revenues amounting to 8 billion and 846 million dollars.
The quantities exported from the oil fields in central and southern Iraq amounted to 105,236,963 barrels, while the quantities exported to Jordan amounted to 464,725 barrels, and from the Qayyarah field in Nineveh Governorate, in the north of the country, 421,186 barrels, according to the statement.
While the average daily exports amounted to 3,423,000 barrels, at an average price of $83.35 per barrel, according to the statement.
And Iraq had announced the export of 106 million and 755 thousand and 169 barrels, with revenues amounting to 8 billion and 204 million dollars last July.
The Iraqi economy relies heavily on crude oil exports, which account for more than 90 percent of the country’s revenues.
2023-09-02 15:59:00
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