Aramco Enters Lubricants Market with Launch of ORIZON® Product Range

Saudi Aramco. Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Aramco. Asharq Al-Awsat
TT

Aramco Enters Lubricants Market with Launch of ORIZON® Product Range

Saudi Aramco. Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Aramco. Asharq Al-Awsat

Aramco has announced its entry into Saudi Arabia’s domestic lubricants market, offering consumers a new line of lubricant products under the ORIZON® brand.

Aramco timed the ORIZON® launch to coincide with the inaugural Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Jeddah, it said in a statement on Sunday.

Aramco is a global sponsor of Formula 1.

Aramco has introduced the ORIZON® product line in more than 20 cities including Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam with more locations planned.

ORIZON® products include synthetic and semi-synthetic lubricants for gasoline engines and heavy-duty diesel engines, as well as driveline products, greases and brake fluids.

The company has also expanded the brand to include ORIZONPRO® which is a high-performance line for the industrial sector.

“Entering the lubricants market is an important milestone for the company, as we continue to expand our presence throughout the downstream value chain,” said Aramco Vice President of Fuels Yasser M. Mufti.

“ORIZON® products leverage Aramco’s extensive capabilities in research and development, making them a quality line of lubricants that boosts the local market offering and enhances consumer choice,” the statement quoted him as saying.

“The launch of ORIZON® further complements Aramco’s presence in the Kingdom’s downstream direct-to-consumer segment, following the inauguration of our first two service stations in Riyadh and Saihat recently,” he added.



Bitcoin Drops to 11-day Low amid Tech Selloff

FILE PHOTO: Sparks strike representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in this illustration taken November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sparks strike representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in this illustration taken November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
TT

Bitcoin Drops to 11-day Low amid Tech Selloff

FILE PHOTO: Sparks strike representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in this illustration taken November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sparks strike representation of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in this illustration taken November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Bitcoin fell below $100,000 on Monday, hitting its lowest in 11 days, in a move analysts attributed to a wave of caution after the surging popularity of a Chinese artificial intelligence model sparked a selloff in Western AI-related stocks.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency struggled to make gains last week, as a rally that had seen it break above $100,000 after US President Donald Trump's election ran out of steam, Reuters reported.

At 1156 GMT, bitcoin was at $98,852.17, down around 6% on the day, having fallen sharply in early trading to hit its lowest since Jan. 16.

Technology stocks plunged, as traders worried that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek could threaten Western companies' dominance of the sector, in a move some called AI's "Sputnik moment", referring to the former Soviet Union's launch of a satellite that marked the start of the space race in the late 1950s.

Bitcoin's losses are "seemingly driven by some risk-off sentiment circulating the markets currently due to DeepSeek," wrote eToro analyst Simon Peters.

Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, said a decline in Nasdaq futures had hurt crypto markets, but that disappointment over the Trump administration's announcement about a cryptocurrency stockpile had put digital assets more at risk of a sharp selloff.

Crypto failed to feature in Trump's day-one announcements after taking office last week, leaving some investors disappointed. In an executive order on Thursday, Trump created a working group to draft new crypto rules and explore a crypto stockpile, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) spiked accounting guidance that the industry said had stymied crypto adoption.

The prospect of interest rates staying higher for longer also hurt riskier assets, said Thomas Puech, CEO of digital asset hedge fund Indigo.

US Federal Reserve policymakers meet this week and are expected to keep interest rates on hold.