Apple Shares Reach New All-Time High, But Saudi Aramco to Overtake as World's Most Valuable Company

[winston1236]

Well, yeah I guess. But Saudi-Aramco shares were mostly bought by the king anyway to make it appear as a success. If anything the price of oil will continue to fall, there's way more than the world needs and they know that, hence the recent economic diversification push within the kingdom.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Railroad companies probably were also worth a lot around 100 years ago.

Right. Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway seem to STILL think so apparently!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNSF_Railway

On November 3, 2009, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced it would acquire the remaining 77.4 percent of BNSF it did not already own for $100 per share in cash and stock — a deal valued at $44 billion. The company is investing an estimated $34 billion in BNSF and acquiring $10 billion in debt.[6][7][8][9][10] On February 12, 2010, shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation voted in favor of the acquisition.[11]
Today, BNSF and its chief competitor, the Union Pacific Railroad, have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western U.S. and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track.

 

[ActionableMango]

Why woul you want to invest in oil when most the world’s car manufacturers are going electric. Seems short sighted to me.

My next car will be electric, and I'm not going to invest in Aramco, so don't mistake me for some pro-oil shill. But you are probably not aware of relevant facts.

Not all oil companies are the same. The very factors that are expected hit oil companies in general (reduced demand, lower prices, and increased environmental regulation), actually put Aramco in a good position.

First of all, Saudi Aramco is unique in that they can produce a barrel of oil for $2.80. This is ENORMOUSLY cheaper than everyone else. So if oil demand falls and oil prices fall with it, it is Aramco's competitors that will face the music long before Aramco does. To compare, North American fracking takes $30-$50 a barrel to extract, and Canadian tar sands about $60 per barrel to extract.

Secondly, Saudi Aramco's oil is "light" or "sweet", which is the highest quality oil, the easiest to refine, and the cleanest. So any regulation designed to put the squeeze on the dirtiest of the oil first, for example bunker oil or tar sands, will affect Armaco's competitors much much more than Aramco itself.

Third, oil consumption is expected to continue to rise until 2050. That's a pretty long time horizon for most investors.

In summary, in an oil market with increasing consumption for decades, combined with cost pressure and regulatory pressure on competitors, Saudi Aramco is actually very well-positioned.