{Saudi Aramco}: Energy market to see better in the fourth quarter

          The CEO reveals the return of China's consumption to pre-pandemic levels and the company's ability to meet the requirements of any external inclusion            
           
Amin Al-Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, said yesterday that the oil market "has passed the worst stage" in light of the recovery in global demand for crude, which now stands at 90 million barrels per day, adding that oil demand in China has almost returned to pre-"Covid-19" levels. .  Al-Nasser said in the Energy Information Forum that demand is recovering, although the recovery will depend on whether there are any problems that may befall the epidemic, noting that Asia, especially China, Aramco's largest market, is experiencing a strong recovery.  He explained that "China has almost returned to the level of its previous demand for pre-(Covid-19) petroleum products, with the exception of aviation fuel."  For more details, in light of the Aramco President’s participation in the Energy Information Forum, which was held by default: 

The expected vaccine

On the continuation of the recovery, Al-Nasser said: “It depends on whether there is a vaccine, when it will be available, whether there is a second wave and how important it is … where we can see some back and forth, but there are good signs and we expect to see a better market in the fourth quarter. And next year ».

Aramco Projects

On Aramco’s projects, Al-Nasser said: “We are looking at all our projects and expanding some projects, while preserving our maximum sustainable capacity of 12 million barrels per day. We are also continuing to expand our gas portfolio in Saudi Arabia, and a lot of focus is placed on capital discipline and maximizing the value of our shareholders. This is what we showed in the first and second quarters, despite the difficult circumstances, while fulfilling our commitment with regard to profits. ”
Regarding capital expenditures, the Aramco president said: “We are looking into the matter. We will discuss capital expenditures next year with our board of directors, our capital expenditures for the years 2018 and 2019 ranged between $ 33 billion and $ 35 billion, and for 2020 it will be between $ 25 billion to $ 30 billion, and this is likely near the lower end of this range. .
“In the next year as well, we will continue to manage capital expenditures wisely,” he said in an interview with the Energy Information Forum. This is very important. “I think it will be a better year compared to what we went through in 2020, but we will continue to focus on our spending and making sure that we maintain our flexible capital to run our business, while fulfilling our commitment when it comes to maximum, sustainable capacity for oil and gas and other programs that we have.” “We strongly believe that there are greater opportunities for us to obtain more value from our current portfolio and further improve it,” he added.

Gas portfolio

He emphasized that the gas sector is also an important part of Aramco, and said: “We will continue our focus on gas, whether conventional or unconventional. We have a large domestic demand and we will increase our spending in terms of bringing more gas in the long term. Today we produce about 10 Billions of cubic feet per day of sales gas with a processing capacity of about 18 billion cubic feet per day of raw gas.
He added, “We are looking to expand this significantly. Our gas portfolio will expand significantly in Saudi Arabia and abroad, including LNG in the future.”

Blue hydrogen

“We are also looking at blue hydrogen and ammonia, so these are other important areas for Aramco’s clean energy vision. We are putting a lot of effort into technologies that will help us reduce its costs, including treating hydrogen and sequestering carbon dioxide – because an important component of blue hydrogen is insulation. . At the same time, we are interested in renewable energy sources in the Kingdom. There is a huge program in the Kingdom and we plan to participate in it ».
He stressed that oil will remain an important part of the company’s portfolio in the long term, and said: “We expect to be a major global player in the field of chemicals, and SABIC will help us, as it is among the global leaders in its field, and through our acquisition of SABIC by 70 percent. Percent, we will build our chemical business either through integrated refineries or projects from crude to chemicals. ”

International listing

On the international listing, Al-Nasser said that any international listing must be decided by the Saudi government, pointing out that the Saudi oil giant meets the requirements of listing everywhere.

Emirates Energy

For his part, UAE Minister of Energy Suhail Al Mazrouei said that OPEC Plus intends to move towards easing oil production cuts as of January next year, as planned.
He added in the Energy Information Forum, “We in (OPEC +) have drawn up a plan that began to reduce approximately ten million or 9.7 million barrels (per day), indicating that this amount has been reduced, and it will also be reduced again at the end of this year, while we are heading towards a year. 2021 ». “We believe that this is the calculated volume to meet the returning demand,” he said.