Saudi Arabia increase oil output to record high
The move seems to make good on the country’s promise over the weekend to increase output after Russia refused to cooperate on cutting production. That led to a 25% plunge in the price of crude on Monday.
In a filing made Tuesday on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock market, Aramco - formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. - said that the increase in production represented a rise of 300,000 barrels per day.
“The company has agreed with its customers to provide them with such volumes starting 1 April 2020,” it said in the filing. “The company expects that this will have a positive, long-term financial effect.”
Saudi Aramco shares were up 9.7% in trading Tuesday on the Tadawul to 30.95 riyals, or $8.25, giving the world’s most-valuable company a valuation of $1.65 trillion.
It came a day after Aramco shares collapsed by 10% and were pulled from trading for reaching the Tadawul’s maximum permitted loss in a day, dropping its valuation to $1.4 trillion. It offered only a sliver of its shares on the Tadawul for investors.
Aramco’s decision likely will flood global energy markets and put further pressure on prices. The company had reached $2 trillion in early days of trading in December.
