Is Saudi Aramco cooling on crude oil?

HAS SAUDI ARABIA stopped believing in a future for petroleum? In recent weeks the question has hung over Saudi Aramco. The desert kingdom’s national oil goliath has a central position in the world’s oil markets. Its market value of $2trn, five times that of the second-biggest oil firm, ExxonMobil, is predicated on bountiful reserves of crude and a peerless ability to tap them cheaply and, as oil goes, cleanly. So the Saudi energy ministry stunned many industry-watchers in January by suspending the firm’s plans to expand oil-production capacity from 12m to 13m barrels per day (b/d). Did the kingpin of crude finally accept that oil demand would soon peak?