Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir on Monday, March 13, made public a deal that would see Saudi Aramco Oil be the supplier of Diesel to all Kenyan oil marketers for the next six months.
The deal was announced two weeks after the government invited bids for the tender under President William Ruto's new policy aimed at de-escalating the effects of the US dollar crisis in the country.
In his statement, CS Chirchir affirmed that the deal was expected to ease the demand for dollar-driven petroleum imports by extending the time required to source for USD liquidity.
Aramco's history and profile
Aramco, established in 1933, currently ranks among the world’s largest oil-producing companies. It is based in the city of Dhahran, which is an important administrative centre for the oil industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The government of Saudi Arabia currently owns the majority stakes in the company since the massive buyouts in the 1970s.
Aramco has grown over time in terms of infrastructure and revenue as it aims to compete with other global oil producers.
To facilitate smooth operations in its trade, the company constructed the longest pipeline in the world known as the Trans-Arabian Pipeline.
Aramco, according to the Companies Market Cap, has a value bigger than that of a number of major tech companies in the world combined.
Currently, the company has been ranked by notable statistics firms as the biggest oil-producing firm in terms of revenue and its current net worth of 1.93 US dollars.
According to a report on the company's 2022 results released on Sunday, March 12, the Saudi Arabia oil giant recorded a net income of $161.1 billion (over Ksh20 trillion) for 2022 to set a new record for the largest annual profit ever achieved by an oil producing company.
To put this into perspective, Ksh20 trillion is more than six times Kenya's budget, which is slightly above Ksh3 trillion.
This, according to credible reports, is attributable to the hiked prices of oil products occasioned in the global markets.
To expand its scope, the company has bought several prominent oil companies in the world- making it the most dominant oil-producing firm.