Report: Saudi Aramco to Sell More Assets

A view shows branded oil tanks at Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
A view shows branded oil tanks at Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
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Report: Saudi Aramco to Sell More Assets

A view shows branded oil tanks at Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
A view shows branded oil tanks at Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

The world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, is planning to raise tens of billions of dollars by selling more stakes in its businesses, Bloomberg reported this week.

The Saudi Arabian state-controlled firm created a new team to review its assets last year, soon after the coronavirus pandemic triggered a plunge in energy prices and strained its balance sheet, it said.

Aramco raised $12.4 billion by selling leasing rights over oil pipelines to a US-led group of investors in April.

The sales will continue in the next few years, according to Abdulaziz Al Gudaimi, senior vice president for corporate development.

They will happen “irrespective of any market conditions” and Aramco aims to generate “double-digit billions of dollars,” Al Gudaimi said in an interview.

“It’s a strategy meant to create value and create efficiency, it’s not about a specific capital target or financing the dividends of the company.”



Egypt's Net Foreign Assets Slid in October

A general view shows Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2020. (Reuters)
A general view shows Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2020. (Reuters)
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Egypt's Net Foreign Assets Slid in October

A general view shows Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2020. (Reuters)
A general view shows Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2020. (Reuters)

Egypt's net foreign assets (NFAs) dropped by $1.12 billion in October after a rise in September, central bank data shows.

NFAs declined to the equivalent of $9.21 billion at the end of October from $10.33 billion at the end of September, according to Reuters calculations based on the official central bank currency rates. The decline followed a $591 million gain in September.

Egypt had been using NFAs, which include foreign assets at both the central bank and commercial banks, to help to prop up its currency since as long ago as September 2021.

NFAs turned negative in February 2022 and only returned to positive territory in May this year.

Foreign assets rose at the central bank in October but dipped at commercial banks while foreign liabilities climbed at both commercial banks and the central bank.