Fitch Upgrades Saudi Electricity Company to 'A+'; Stable Outlook


Saudi Electricity Company HQ in Riyadh - SPA
Saudi Electricity Company HQ in Riyadh - SPA
TT

Fitch Upgrades Saudi Electricity Company to 'A+'; Stable Outlook


Saudi Electricity Company HQ in Riyadh - SPA
Saudi Electricity Company HQ in Riyadh - SPA

Fitch Ratings has upgraded Saudi Electricity Company's (SEC) Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings to 'A+' from 'A', and removed the ratings from Under Criteria Observation (UCO). The National Long-Term Rating was also upgraded to 'AAA(sau)' from 'AA+(sau)'.

The agency also said in its reports that all the outlooks are Stable.

The upgrade follows a reassessment of SEC's links with the Saudi Arabian government under Fitch's recently updated Government-Related Entities (GRE) Rating Criteria.

SEC's ratings are now equalized with those of Saudi Arabia (KSA, A+/Stable), as the new support score assumes 'Virtually Certain' support from the state, based on GRE Criteria definitions.



Report: US Ready to Reopen Oil Stockpile if Petrol Prices Surge Again

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Phillips 66 Company's Los Angeles Refinery (foreground), which processes domestic & imported crude oil into gasoline, aviation and diesel fuels, and storage tanks for refined petroleum products at the Kinder Morgan Carson Terminal (background), at sunset in Carson, California, US, March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Phillips 66 Company's Los Angeles Refinery (foreground), which processes domestic & imported crude oil into gasoline, aviation and diesel fuels, and storage tanks for refined petroleum products at the Kinder Morgan Carson Terminal (background), at sunset in Carson, California, US, March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo
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Report: US Ready to Reopen Oil Stockpile if Petrol Prices Surge Again

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Phillips 66 Company's Los Angeles Refinery (foreground), which processes domestic & imported crude oil into gasoline, aviation and diesel fuels, and storage tanks for refined petroleum products at the Kinder Morgan Carson Terminal (background), at sunset in Carson, California, US, March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Phillips 66 Company's Los Angeles Refinery (foreground), which processes domestic & imported crude oil into gasoline, aviation and diesel fuels, and storage tanks for refined petroleum products at the Kinder Morgan Carson Terminal (background), at sunset in Carson, California, US, March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo

The Biden administration is ready to release more oil from the US strategic stockpile to stop any jump in petrol prices this summer, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Senior Biden adviser Amos Hochstein told the newspaper that oil prices are "still too high for many Americans” and he would like to see them “cut down a little bit further.”

Hochstein, speaking to the FT said that the US would "continue to purchase into next year, until we think that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has the volume that it needs again to serve its original purpose of energy security."

The Energy Department this year has been buying about 3 million barrels of oil per month for the SPR after selling 180 million barrels in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The move was an effort to curb gasoline prices that spiked to more than $5.00 a gallon, but it also reduced the reserve to its lowest level in 40 years.

Earlier this month, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Reuters that the US could hasten the rate of replenishing the SPR as maintenance on the stockpile is completed by the end of the year.