Aramco to invest US$300b over the next decade

Kuwait

SAUDI Aramco, which plans what could be the world's biggest initial public offering (IPO), will invest more than US$300 billion over the next decade to maintain its spare oil-production capacity and explore for more natural gas, president and chief executive officer Amin Nasser said.

The outlook for oil supplies is "increasingly worrying", with about US$1 trillion in investments lost during the current industry downturn and fewer new deposits being discovered, Mr Nasser said at a conference in Istanbul. Some estimates suggest that at least 20 million barrels a day of new output is needed over the next five years to offset rising oil demand and the natural decline of developed fields, he said.