$470 billion.. Moody's raise their investments in the Middle East
The agency estimates the growth of investments in exploration and production operations to $417 billion last year, with a growth rate of 8.6%, to rise to $470 billion, or 12.7%.
Shrouq
International oil companies will raise their investments, especially in the Middle East, with the aim of developing and exploiting the region's reserves with the rise in crude prices, according to Moody's, the credit rating agency.
The agency estimates the growth of investments in exploration and production operations to $417 billion last year, with a growth rate of 8.6%, to rise to $470 billion, or 12.7%.
Despite this growth, these rates are still lower than investments during the period from 2015 to 2019, which ranged from $500 billion to $660 billion, according to Bloomberg news agency.
High oil prices
These investments come as high oil prices continue to provide incentives to develop and exploit reserves, After the imbalance between supply and demand in the oil market, which had been accumulating since 2017, which led to a series of shocks that caused an increase in oil prices in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, according to the agency.
Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil exporter, expects the world's surplus oil capacity to disappear, with the reopening of China and the recovery of aviation to pre-pandemic levels, according to previous statements by one of its officials.
After demand in China fell by 100,000 barrels per day in 2022, OPEC expects China to see a stronger-than-expected rebound as consumption accelerates after years of lockdown due to Covid.
Public Investment Fund
On a connected level, Moody's revised the outlook for the Saudi Public Investment Fund from stable to positive, and affirmed the fund's credit rating at category "A1".
Moody's granting the fund an "A1" rating reflects the creditworthiness of the fund, and when linked to the approved rating methodology, it results in an "Aa2" result according to the performance evaluation.
Public Investment Fund
In October 2022, the Public Investment Fund issued the first green bonds issued by global sovereign funds, which included the first 100-year issuance from a sovereign fund.
It was also followed by the fund's announcement of the completion of the second issuance of its international green bonds in February 2023, which will be used to finance and refinance the fund's green projects, in line with the fund's green financing framework.
