Bahrain News: May Sell Stake in Oil Assets in IPO After Aramco - Bloomberg

Bahrain News: May Sell Stake in Oil Assets in IPO After Aramco - Bloomberg:

Bahrain may transfer some of its oil and natural gas assets into a proposed state-run fund in which it could sell shares to investors, as the smallest Gulf Arab country seeks to balance its budget.

The government is working on the project and may decide to proceed with it later this year, Oil Minister Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said in an interview. It’s still deciding which assets to put into the proposed fund and how to value them, he said.

After Saudi Arabia sold a stake in national oil company Saudi Aramco last year, “nothing is not for sale anymore,” Al Khalifa said.

A slump in crude prices since 2014 has prodded oil-rich states in the Persian Gulf to take unprecedented steps to open up to foreign investors to try to boost state coffers.  Neighboring Saudi Arabia raised nearly $30 billion from the initial public offering of Aramco in December, while Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. has raised funds by bringing in partners for its refining unit and drilling business.

Bahrain, where oil and gas are also central to the economy, wants to balance its budget by 2022. Its deficit ballooned to 13% of gross domestic product in 2015, though it has improved, narrowing in 2019 to 4.7% of economic output from 6.3% a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said last month.