Saudi Arabia has lined up 15 banks to manage new multi-billion dollar bond offerings for its flagship oil and gas company, Aramco, according to a number of domestic and international banking and oil industry sources spoken to by OilPrice.com last week. The new debt issues will comprise either conventional or Islamic bonds – most likely a combination of both – totalling at least US$5 billion but at least double that if the bidding for the paper allows for more to be issued at a reasonable coupon. The obvious question for those who do not closely follow the global oil markets is ‘why does one of the world’s leading oil producers need to take more debt on to the books of its only true prize asset’? The answer is that Aramco has an obligation to pay its shareholders US$18.75 billion each quarter – US$75 billion every year – for the […]