LONDON: The chief of the Russian Direct Investment Fund has pledged to continue developing partnerships with Saudi Arabia despite energy sector tensions between the pair.
Kirill Dmitriev made his remarks as Saudi Arabia prepared to increase production to record levels.
“Despite disagreements we have on some energy-related issues, we continue to work actively with Saudi Arabia,” he said. “We are investing together with Saudi Arabia into various projects and are cooperating closely in other areas. Of course, many people are trying to drive a wedge between Russia and Saudi Arabia, but we see a constructive approach on both sides. There are differences on some energy issues but Russia has developed a partnership with Saudi Arabia and this partnership will continue.”
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, the Saudi energy minister, on Wednesday told Saudi Aramco to prepare to increase its maximum sustainable capacity — the limit to the crude it can produce over the long term — to 13 million barrels per day.
That would enable the Kingdom to leapfrog the US as the number one crude producer, pushing Russia into third place. Analysts said the new capacity would come from expansion and enhancement of production from existing fields.
A statement from Aramco to the Tadawul stock exchange, where its shares are quoted, said: “Saudi Aramco announces that it received a directive from the Ministry of Energy to increase its maximum sustainable capacity from 12 million barrels per day to 13 million,” in accordance with a 2017 royal decree.
In another sign of Saudi preparations for an oil export surge, the National Shipping Company, Bahri, was reported to be considering the hire of at last eight extra supertankers to export crude from the Kingdom.
The moves by the Saudi authorities represent a further escalation in the “price war” that broke out after Vienna, as another big Middle East producer, the UAE, also said it would dramatically increase production.
In Russia, whose unwillingness to participate in a further round of output cuts sparked the price war, energy minister Alexander Novak has called a meeting of the country’s top oil companies tomorrow to discuss the turmoil on global markets.
He said that the decision by Saudi Arabia to raise output and cut prices was “probably not the best option,” but that he remained in telephone contact with OPEC ministers and would take part in an OPEC+ technical committee later this month.
Russian fund chief pledges to continue Saudi partnerships
https://arab.news/pju42
Russian fund chief pledges to continue Saudi partnerships
- Kirill Dmitriev: Despite disagreements we have on some energy-related issues, we continue to work actively with Saudi Arabia
- Dmitriev: We are investing together with Saudi Arabia into various projects and are cooperating closely in other areas
Saudi stock market opens its doors to foreign investors
RIYADH: Foreigners will be able to invest directly in Saudi Arabia’s stock market from Feb. 1, the Kingdom’s Capital Market Authority has announced.
The CMA’s board has approved a regulatory change which will mean the capital market, across all its segments, will be accessible to investors from around the world for direct participation.
According to a statement, the approved amendments aim to expand and diversify the base of those permitted to invest in the Main Market, thereby supporting investment inflows and enhancing market liquidity.
International investors' ownership in the capital market exceeded SR590 billion ($157.32 billion) by the end of the third quarter of 2025, while international investments in the main market reached approximately SR519 billion during the same period — an annual rise of 4 percent.
“The approved amendments eliminated the concept of the Qualified Foreign Investor in the Main Market, thereby allowing all categories of foreign investors to access the market without the need to meet qualification requirements,” said the CMA, adding: “It also eliminated the regulatory framework governing swap agreements, which were used as an option to enable non-resident foreign investors to obtain economic benefits only from listed securities, and the allowance of direct investment in shares listed on the Main Market.”
In July, the CMA approved measures to simplify the procedures for opening and operating investment accounts for certain categories of investors. These included natural foreign investors residing in one of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as well as those who had previously resided in the Kingdom or in any GCC country.
This step represented an interim phase leading up to the decision announced today, with the aim of increasing confidence among participants in the Main Market and supporting the local economy.
Saudi Arabia, which is more than halfway through an economic plan to reduce its dependence on oil, has been trying to attract foreign investors, including by establishing exchange-traded funds with Asian partners in Japan and Hong Kong.
