Saudi Arabia’s Aramco to help fix Nigeria’s refineries, supply CBN with forex to strengthen naira

The government of Saudi Arabia has promised to support the reforms of the Central Bank of Nigeria and help fix Nigeria’s refineries through its oil company, Aramco.

The country pledged a bilateral engagement between President Bola Tinubu and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this in a press statement.

The statement said that the Saudi Prince commended the reforms of the current CBN management and promised to support Nigeria in other areas. Per the statement, the Kingdom will support the CBN’s FX reforms and help make available enough forex exchange to fix Nigeria’s forex scarcity.

Idris said that Prince Bin Salman commended the economic policies of President Tinubu and expressed the commitment of the Saudi government to supporting the reforms and helping Nigeria to benefit from the reforms.

“Saudi Arabia is very eager to see Nigeria thrive under President Bola Tinubu and realize its full potential as the economic giant of Africa,” the statement said.

Reports say the Kingdom also promised to support Nigeria in agriculture, renewable energy, and the oil industry with plans to revamp Nigeria’s refineries in three years. The two leaders committed to fashioning out a roadmap to develop discussed during the meeting.

Saudi Arabia owns the world's most profitable oil company

Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading oil producer and has one of the most profitable state-owned oil firms, Saudi Aramco. Saudi Aramco is said to have the most significant bid in the world, the Wall Street Journal report said.

Officials of the oil firm said it planned to sell about $50 billion worth of shares, which will be the largest in the world if successfully executed. The country decided to hold any fresh Aramco offering on the Riyadh stock exchange to avoid regulatory concerns arising with international listings.

Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest oil firm, with a market value of $2.25 trillion, with its shares up 20% in 2023.

Saudi Aramco plans the world's most extensive share listing

Reports say the company could hold the offer before the end of 2023 despite a final decision still being awaited.

The oil firm has attempted stock listing, with the Kingdom’s Crown Prince bin Salman staking his reputation on Aramco’s vast IPO some years ago. The IPO includes a possible sale of New York Stock Exchange shares, but doubts about valuation and the risks concerning the 9/11 attacks delayed the offering.

The move stopped the national oil company from pursuing the most extensive offer. It chose to list in Tadawul only on December 11, 2019, when 1.5% of its value began trading on the stock markets.

According to available data, Saudi Arabia has some of the world’s most robust forex reserves, with $402 billion as of August 2023. Nigeria struggles with a paltry less than $32 billion in reserves.

'No be the same oil we dey Sell?' - Nigerians ask as Saudi Arabia adds $80BN oil money to its wealth fund

Legit.ng reported that while the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) struggles to remit money to the federation accounts, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco has added $80 billion worth of shares into the country's sovereign wealth fund.

A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), also known as a social wealth fund, is the surplus money that a country accrues over time.

According to a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency, the shares were transferred to Sanabil Investments, a firm controlled by the kingdom's Public Investment Fund (PIF).