Washington hosted the Saudi-US Investment Forum on Wednesday, an event described as a strategic bridge marking a decade of shared growth and innovation between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and US President Donald Trump are set to attend. Crown Prince Mohammed was on official visit to the US that he kicked off on Tuesday.
The presence of both leaders raised expectations of wide ranging announcements covering major strategic agreements in key sectors such as energy, technology, and finance.
The forum opened with welcoming remarks by Saudi Investment Minister, Khalid Al-Falih and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Al-Falih said Crown Prince Mohammed's visit to Washington underscored the strength of the US-Saudi partnership and that it would see the launch of agreements worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
According to the minister, the relationship shared between the Kingdom and the US, which has continued for nine decades, has had a major impact on both countries.
The US is the largest foreign investor in Saudi Arabia, and the US is also the largest recipient of Saudi foreign investment.
Lutnick, for his part, said the strategic partnership is expanding into horizons not seen before.
He said Trump secured 600 billion dollars in Saudi investment commitments during a visit to Riyadh in May, along with 142 billion dollars in defense and security agreements, which he described as the largest defense deal in history.
Lutnick described the figure rising to one trillion dollars as astonishing.
During a meeting with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, Crown Prince Mohammed said the Kingdom aims to raise investments to one trillion dollars.
Lutnick added that these investments would create real jobs across the United States, strengthen American innovation, and support prosperity.
He revealed that Washington is pursuing a strategy of mutual trade and strategic investment. The Commerce Department, according to Lutnick, will help companies invest quickly in artificial intelligence.
He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s role in strengthening supply chains for strategic minerals, saying the Kingdom is a key partner in efforts to ensure secure supply chains.
Energy leaders
A flagship session at the forum brought together three of the world’s most prominent energy industry leaders: Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, Mohammad Abunayyan, chairman of ACWA Power, and Michael Wirth, chairman and chief executive of US-based Chevron.
The panel discussed the future of global energy amid rapid transformation, with a particular focus on the Saudi-US strategic partnership.
Wirth said Chevron was the first company to discover oil in Saudi Arabia in 1938 through Dammam Well Number 7, known as the “Prosperity Well.”
Chevron remains the only company, alongside Aramco, that continues to operate production facilities inside the Kingdom in the Partitioned Zone with Kuwait, he added.
Nasser said Aramco purchases 15 billion dollars worth of American goods and services each year and that many US companies have set up manufacturing facilities in the Kingdom as a result of the strategic relationship.
He also announced new memorandums of understanding in the energy sector with American firms worth 30 billion dollars, bringing total agreements signed this year to more than 120 billion dollars.
The speakers said the US will account for about 40 percent of the global energy market by 2040, driven by low gas production costs, technological innovation, and strong availability of capital and talent.
They described the US as the “world’s innovation hub,” noting that it hosts 60 to 70 percent of global venture capital investment and most of Aramco’s research and development centers outside the Kingdom.
‘Added energy’
Nasser rejected the term “energy transition,” promoting instead the idea of “added energy.” He said hydrocarbons still make up 80 percent of the global energy mix despite one trillion dollars invested in alternatives over the past fifteen years.
He forecast continued growth in oil and gas demand through 2050 and beyond, driven by the expanding middle class in emerging markets, strong electricity needs from data centers and artificial intelligence, and growing demand for cooling and heating that he said would exceed data center demand by several multiples.
Nasser warned that 90 percent of sector investment since 2019 has gone toward offsetting natural production decline at a rate of six percent a year.
He said continued underinvestment of four to six percent annually, combined with inflation, could erode spare capacity and create a supply crisis in the coming years.
Green energy
Abunayyan said Saudi Arabia will become a global hub for exporting clean electricity and green energy, particularly green and blue hydrogen, to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The Kingdom can produce energy at lower cost than most markets, he stressed.
Saudi Arabia is the only country capable of meeting surging electricity demand to power artificial intelligence technologies, he went on to say, noting that energy accounts for about 60 percent of the cost of operating AI systems.
He predicted the kingdom would become “the world’s data center hub” due to its advanced infrastructure and low electricity costs.
All participants delivered a unified message: the world will not phase out hydrocarbons any time soon and will instead need more of every type of energy, including oil, gas, renewables, and hydrogen.
They agreed that the historic Saudi US partnership is now expanding beyond oil to include new technologies, artificial intelligence, clean hydrogen, and electricity exports, positioning both sides to secure global energy supplies and drive economic progress for decades.
