As Saudi Arabia continues to navigate its way in the new reality of the oil business, its recent steps to finally cut back production in order to stimulate price will have an additional component attached for the immediate future. That revenue-enhancing decision on February 2 by the Kingdom’s state-run company, Saudi Aramco, was that the…
For the past few years, the likelihood of Saudi Arabia offering minority shares in its largest company, Saudi Aramco, seemed to be a given. That’s because the dropping price of oil and the subsequent depletion of the country’s vast financial resources made it a more economically viable option to undertake. Those resources haven’t quite reached…
Expanding on their petroleum interests in Asia, the Saudi state-run oil company, Saudi Aramco, and Malaysia’s own state oil firm, Petronas, have agreed on a contract that will bring them together on what’s become known as the Rapid project. The deal will be signed on February 27, during King Salman’s visit to the country. An…
The OPEC (short for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) was founded in 1960 in Baghdad, by Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Kuwait. Currently, OPEC has 12 member countries. The goal of OPEC is to secure steady incomes to the member countries and to influence world oil prices through economic collaboration. Any country that exports…
Prospecting for oil is one of the world’s riskiest businesses. While the successes of the oil industry quickly becomes popular news, unsuccessful ventures often fade into obscurity. In 1983, 12 companies, drilling for oil in the Beaufort Sea, spent $2 billion prospecting for oil and in the end all they had to show for it…
After operators decide that they are going to develop an oil field, a development and production plan is made. The field should be capable of producing oil for several years and it should be feasible to do so, even when oil prices are low. So the company will look for solutions to reduce costs. Floating…
The first step in prospecting for oil is to obtain an exploratory license which is given by oil authorities. Each country has its own process for awarding exploratory licenses. A company can also acquire an exploratory license from another oil company. Conducting geological surveys After the oil exploration license is acquired, the company creates geophysical…
Petroleum has subterranean origins. The only way to know for sure whether petroleum exists in a certain place is to dig a well. Many petroleum wells will have to be dug, before you might finally strike petroleum. Petroleum engineers now use scientific methods to select promising sites to drill for oil (on land and at…
The three-year slide of oil prices has delivered a major hit to the financial stature of Saudi Arabia, primarily because of their status as the world’s top oil producer. While that title has seemingly fluctuated in the past year with Russia, the economic punch that those two nations provide has the ability to provide an…
During an economic forum in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the West African nation of Equatorial Guinea came to an agreement on May 11 that brings the two countries together on a variety of business projects. One of those is an agreement that will help finance what will be the region’s largest terminal for oil storage….
Though the impact of Saudi Arabia within the American oil market has been diminished over time, their ability to maintain a very clear presence once again came into focus on May 1. That was when Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom’s state-run oil company, finalized an agreement to take complete control of the largest oil refinery in…
