The Oil Price War Has Put A $69 Billion Mega Deal At Risk

Even before the latest slew of announcements regarding the agreement by Saudi Arabia’s flagship oil and gas company, Aramco, to acquire a 70 percent stake in the Kingdom’s key petrochemicals company, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), for US$69.1 billion, from the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the ‘deal’ looked like a meaningless accounting trick that transfers money from one side of the Saudi balance sheet to another. It looked like that because that is what it is but…