Saudi Aramco CEO Warns We’re Running Out of Oil… Right After Posting Record Profits
Look, I’m no oil economist, but even I can smell the bullshit from here. The CEO of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, just dropped a major truth bomb at some energy conference that had the financial world clutching its pearls. His message? “We’re running out of oil, guys. Seriously. We need to stop investing in renewables and drill, baby, drill, or the world is going to freeze in the dark.”
And this is the same company that just posted a cool $121 billion profit for 2023. That’s not a typo. That’s more than Apple, Microsoft, and the entire GDP of a medium-sized European country. But sure, Amin, tell me more about how we’re “underinvesting” in the one thing that makes you personally richer than a dragon hoarding gold.
Let’s break this down for the folks in the back, because the cognitive dissonance here is so thick you could refine it into jet fuel.
First, the context. Nasser is basically the King Midas of crude. He runs the world’s largest oil exporter, a company that is essentially the financial backbone of the Saudi monarchy. When he says “global energy transition is failing,” he’s not just making a market prediction. He’s making a threat. He’s saying, “You think you can power your Teslas with sunshine and good vibes? Good luck. You still need my black gold for the plastic in your phone, the asphalt on your roads, and the jet fuel for your vacation to Cancún.”
And he’s not entirely wrong, which is the most infuriating part. The world is still a fossil fuel junkie. Despite the solar panels and wind turbines popping up like pimples on a teenager’s face, global oil demand hit an all-time high last year. We are addicted. But the solution from the guy selling the heroin is not to go to rehab. It’s to say, “You know what? You need more heroin. And if you don’t let me build a new refinery, you’re going to go into withdrawal so bad you’ll die.”
This is the same logic as a landlord raising your rent while your ceiling is caving in. “Sorry, Timmy, the invisible hand of the market says you need to pay 30% more for a leaky roof. Also, stop funding my competition (i.e., installing solar panels).”
The timing is also exquisite. We just watched COP28 in Dubai, where the same oil execs were literally signing deals to expand production while the rest of the world was having a group therapy session about saving the planet. Now Nasser is here to tell us that all that renewable energy stuff is a pipe dream. It’s like a cigarette CEO giving a lecture on lung health. “Actually, smoking is fine. It’s the patches that are the problem.”
Let’s look at the actual data he’s fear-mongering with. He says we’re not spending enough on new oil fields. And he’s technically correct that investment in new supply has lagged behind demand growth for a few years. But why? Oh, I don’t know, maybe because investors are scared that in 10 years, a massive chunk of their oil assets will be stranded? Or maybe because the industry has a habit of blowing up the planet and causing mass extinction events? It’s almost like the market is pricing in the risk of regulation and climate change.
But Nasser’s solution is not to manage that risk. It’s to double down. He wants us to ignore the fact that we’re boiling the planet. He wants us to pretend that the wildfires in Canada and the floods in Pakistan are just “bad weather.” He wants the world to keep pouring trillions into a product that, by his own admission, is finite and increasingly hard to get.
And here’s the real kicker: He’s doing this while his company has one of the lowest production costs on Earth. They can pull oil out of the ground for like, $5 a barrel. They are laughing all the way to the bank. Every time you fill up your F-150, a little piece of your soul goes to Riyadh. And now he’s telling you that you should feel bad for even *thinking* about buying an electric car.
The media is eating this up, of course. “Saudi Aramco CEO warns of energy crisis.” It’s a great headline because it plays into our base fears. We’re all scared of the lights going out. We’re scared of $10 gas. We’re scared of being cold in winter. And Nasser is using that fear like a psychological weapon to keep his gravy train running.
But let’s be real for a second. Is he wrong about the immediate future? Probably not. We are going to need oil for a while. The transition is messy and slow. But the argument he’s making is not an argument for pragmatism. It’s an argument for surrender. He’s saying, “Give up on the future. The future is my oil field.”
This is AITA for thinking the CEO of a record-profit oil company should probably shut the hell up about “energy security” while he’s personally hoarding more cash than Scrooge McDuck? Because honestly, the audacity level here is off the charts. He’s not a prophet. He’s a lobbyist with a very expensive suit.
The bottom line is: We are running out of cheap, easy oil. That’s true. But the solution is not to keep drilling in the Arctic or fracking every last square inch of Texas. The solution is to make the transition happen faster, not slower. But you won’t hear that from Amin Nasser. He’s too busy counting his billions and warning us about the apocalypse that only his product can prevent.
So next time you see a headline about an oil exec crying wolf about supply, just remember: they’re not worried about the world running out of oil. They’re worried about the world running out of *their* oil. And there’
Final Thoughts
Given Aramco's staggering profits and the Kingdom's ambitious Vision 2030 pivot, the real story isn't about oil production—it’s about how the world's most valuable energy company is trying to buy a seat at the renewable table while still drilling at full throttle. What we’re witnessing is a masterclass in hedging: a state-owned behemoth using its fossil fuel cash to fund a clean-energy future it doesn't fully believe in yet. For all the talk of green transitions, this is a stark reminder that the global economy’s addiction to cheap crude isn’t going to break; it’s just going to be rebranded.