Saudi oil giant Aramco has issued a $4-billion bond, tapping the debt market for the first time this year amid persistently weak oil prices in the low $60s per barrel.
Aramco, the world’s top crude exporter and biggest international oil company, on Monday announced the start of issuing U.S.-dollar-denominated international bonds under its Global Medium Term Note Programme, saying the issuance amount is subject to market conditions.
Saudi Aramco ultimately placed $4 billion in a four-tranche bond, which received more than $21 billion in orders, Reuters reports, citing fixed-income news service IFR.
Thanks to strong investor demand, Aramco was able to offer yields below the initially-guided benchmark U.S. Treasuries, market sources said.
That’s the first bond issue for Aramco this year, but it’s the second issuance in five months, as the Saudi oil giant and Saudi Arabia are suffering from lower oil prices that have remained around $60-65 for months.
In September 2025, Aramco offered Islamic bonds, the so-called sukuk, in five and ten-year issuances in what was the Saudi oil firm’s second debt issue last year and Saudi Arabia’s third in one week.
Lower oil prices have reduced Aramco’s cash flows in Q1, and the second quarter showed even larger declines in cash flow and profits as prices slumped.
In addition, the Kingdom sold $5.5 billion in Islamic bonds in September, orders for which reached $17.5 billion. The sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), also sold $2 billion of 10-year dollar bonds to fund part of its investment plans.
The busy bond issuance from Saudi Arabia and Aramco suggests that the decline in oil prices is straining the Kingdom’s finances. Saudi Arabia’s budget deficit grew last year as oil prices fell, well below the $ 90-per-barrel level the Kingdom is estimated to need to balance its budget.
