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Saudi Aramco tested by deglobalization and energy transition

A picture taken on November 3, 2019 shows a sign of Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO) during a press conference by the state company in the eastern Saudi Arabian region of Dhahran. - Saudi Aramco confirmed it planned to list on the Riyadh stock exchange, describing it as a "significant milestone" in the history of the energy giant. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
To:

Al-Monitor Pro Members

From:

Gerald Kepes

President, Competitive Energy Strategies, LLC

Date:

Dec. 7, 2022

Bottom Line:

Saudi Arabia’s national oil company (NOC), Saudi Aramco, is deeply enmeshed in a national project to build a new, more sustainable economy, and to perpetuate Saudi rule in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). To build more complex economies, greater state capacity is needed, requiring new organizational arrangements and capabilities. No institution in the kingdom has more capacity than Saudi Aramco. From its perspective, the NOC is actively engaged in the kingdom’s transformation but seeks to protect its institutional prerogatives, in order to avoid losing its operational and strategic independence.