Saudi Aramco Seeks Investment Opportunities in New Energies Abroad

• Aramco is seeking investments in new energy sources and technologies outside Saudi Arabia.
• The company doubled its venture capital fund to $7 billion to support innovative startups and disruptive technologies.
• Aramco remains committed to oil and gas but recognizes the need for a diversified portfolio for the future.

Saudi Aramco is currently eyeing potential investments in new energies outside Saudi Arabia, the state oil giant’s chief executive officer Amin Nasser said on Monday.

Aramco’s top executive was speaking on the sidelines of the Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Apart from deals in the refining and petrochemicals segment, especially in its key crude export market, China, the Saudi state oil giant is looking to invest in the development of new technologies and new energies, including in collaboration with partners outside the Kingdom.

Early this year, Saudi Aramco more than doubled funding to its venture capital arm by injecting an additional $4 billion funding. The fresh funding is raising Aramco’s total investment allocation to its unit Aramco Ventures from $3 billion to $7 billion.  

The decision to more than double funds allocation to the venture capital arm reflects “the growing significance of Aramco’s venture capital program in enabling the development of disruptive new technologies, creating diversification opportunities for Aramco, and paving the way for collaborations with innovative start-ups,” said the Saudi oil giant, which is the world’s top oil firm in terms of both market capitalization and production.

The venture capital program is expected to help advance Aramco’s long-term strategy, which includes a focus on new energies, chemicals, transition materials, diversified industrial businesses, and digital technologies.

“By injecting an additional $4 billion in funding over the next four years, we intend to provide the financial backing required to take game-changing solutions to the next level,” Ahmad Al Khowaiter, Aramco Executive Vice President of Technology & Innovation, said at the time.

Still, Aramco continues to believe that oil and gas will be needed for decades to come and hasn’t given up on its goal to pump the world’s last barrel of oil.

The debates on the energy transition should be on how to cut emissions, not on reducing oil and gas production, Aramco’s CEO Nasser said last year.  

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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