Aramco: Mass EV Adoption Still Decades Away

Though electric vehicles are gaining popularity worldwide, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser believes that the new cars will not compose a significant portion of on-road vehicles for decades, according to a new interview with CNBC.

"Electric vehicles will continue to grow,” Nasser said. “They will take good market share, but it will be decades before they shoulder a significant percentage of the energy mix."

Still, the rise of fuel-efficient cars could wipeout crude consumption equal to Iran annual output by the year 2025, analysis by Barclays shows.

Aramco is currently investing in research and development to devise new ways to use crude oil as international demand falls.

"The chemical business grows at about 3 percent, much more than the growth of the transport sector. What can we do to grow that even further by identifying a new usage?" he said.

Saudi Aramco has had to refute reports that it may delay the listing of 5 percent of its shares in what is expected to be the biggest initial public offering ever, with Nasser telling CNBC in an interview that the IPO is on track for the second half of 2018, as planned.

“We have always said that we will be listing in 2018, and to be more specific, in the second half of 2018,” the CEO said. “The IPO is on track. The listing venue will be discussed and shared in due course.”

The venue of the possible international listing has also been subject of much talk in recent weeks. Aramco plans to list 5 percent of the company on the Saudi Arabian market and on one or more international stock exchanges. Saudi officials have claimed that the company is worth $2 trillion, which, they assume, could mean getting close to $100 billion from listing 5 percent.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

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