The word “pandemic” didn’t appear among the risk factors in the prospectus for the world’s biggest IPO, Saudi Aramco’s, which marks its first anniversary this weekend. It turns out that didn’t matter: Despite Covid-19’s savaging of the oil market, shares of Saudi Arabian Oil Co. now trade 12% higher than where they debuted. Others haven’t fared so well.
To put that gain in perspective, the $200 billion or so added to Aramco’s market cap during the worst-ever slump in oil demand is bigger than the current market cap of Exxon Mobil Corp.
Yet the unusual nature of that resilience makes it weaker than it appears. And this is reinforced by the coincidence of the anniversary with a meeting of OPEC+ that was overshadowed by disagreement between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
