> Saudi Arabia now has no alternative but to continue to sell off assets (the equivalent of selling the family silver, and this can only be done once), sell mor

> Saudi Arabia now has no alternative but to continue to sell off assets (the equivalent of selling the family silver, and this can only be done once), sell more bonds (taking on more debt and the interest on this form of Saudi debt is going up with every such sale), and cancel projects (which are crucial to the long-term success of Aramco) The article starts off with an especially history-ignorant premise. Of course Saudi Arabia has an alternative. The Middle East has a long history of nationalization as it pertains to oil resources. This is the House of Saud we're talking about. MBS is unwilling to nationalize the small private ownership of Aramco? Ha I say. I say, ha ha. Double ha. Ha ha ha ha. It's almost guaranteed that at some point in the future Saudi Arabia will re-nationalize Aramco in one manner or another. You see, Saudi Arabia is in a demographic death spiral. Not due to de-population as in some countries, rather, the exact opposite problem. Their population is exploding higher, without an economy to match. The single most important number as it pertains to Saudi Arabia, is barrels of oil produced per capita (however you want to formulate that, whether daily or annually). That overwhelmingly determines the standard of living of the people of Saudi Arabia, and ultimately dictates the stability of the House of Saud. So how is that number looking? In 1980 Saudi oil production was up near 10m barrels per day, with a population of 9.7 million - so almost one person per barrel of oil per day. A remarkable ratio for sure. Circa year 2000 oil production was 9.x million barrels per day, with a population then up to 20.7 million, so by that point it's down to less than half a barrel of oil per day per person; a halving in 20 years. During the pandemic time frame (ie another 20 years later)? 8 to 9 million barrels per day, and now their population is up to 35 million, so now it's down to ~1/4 of a barrel of oil produced per day per person, another halving in roughly 20 years. (Even if you pop that up to 10m barrels per day again in the next few years, their population is heading to 40m regardless, so 1/4 one way or another.) Implosion. It's very obvious what's going to happen to Saudi Arabia. They're adding 500k-700k people per year, with no economy to support any of those people. For the average citizen of Saudi Arabia, every person added to the population tally reduces the standard of living of the rest. At this point every ten years they're adding a population equal to 2/3 of where they were at in 1980, with zero additional oil production to match. Chaos and violent instability is coming for Saudi Arabia, you can bet Aramco is eventually getting nationalized again, whatever the reputation consequences.