Saudi Making America Great Again -- Worth Reposting -- May 20, 2017

Updates

May 26, 2017: Saudi Aramco to invest $18 billion in Texas' Motiva refinery.

May 23, 2017: six energy companies profiting from Trump's mega-deals with Saudi Arabia: Weatherford was listed first. Then Exxon Mobil; GE; Nabors Industries; Rowan Cos; and, National Oilwell Varco.


May 22, 2017: Saudi Aramco signs deals with US companies totaling $50 billion. 

May 22, 2017: National Oilwell, Saudi Aramco to form JV in Saudi Arabia to build rigs and equipment.

May 22, 2017: Schlumberger signs MOU with Saudi Aramco.

May 21, 2017: Blackston unveils $100 billion ambition for infrastructure; Saudi Arabian wealth fund commits $20 billion to the strategy; buyout firm answers Trump call to rebuild US infrastructure -- Bloomberg. 

May 21, 2017: Boeing signed a number of defense and commercial deals with Saudi Arabia during Trump's visit -- Business Insider. 

May 21, 2017: Saudi-SoftBank tech fund nears $100 billion target. From an earlier post:  

Sorting out SoftBank. Data points from today's news from The New York Times

• SoftBank? think "ATT on steroids" in Japan -- one of Japan's largest telecom providers
• 63,590 employees (ATT: 246,740 employees)
• solar power business
• humanoid robots for home use
• ride-booking services 
• financial technology 
• 2016: SoftBank + Saudi Arabia -- set up a $25 billion private fund for technology investments; could grow to $100 billion  (think "Shark Tank on steroids")
• SoftBank: committed to creating 50,000 jobs in the US and investing $50 billion in US startups
• first huge partner: OneWeb
• OneWeb has obtained $1.2 billion from SoftBank
• OneWeb: plans to build a network of satellites to provide global broadband access; 
• the $1.2 billion: finance the construction of a factory in Exploration Park, Florida; to produce 15 satellites per week at low cost; could result in 3,000 jobs at this site; I think I read elsewhere the company's goal is to place 720 telecommunication satellites in space

May 21, 2017: corporate CEOs "descend" on Riyadh:

Top executives who descended on Riyadh for a CEO summit timed to coincide with Trump’s visit included JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, Blackstone Group LP CEO Steve Schwarzman, and Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp.

Saturday’s meeting, the “Saudi-U.S. CEO Forum,” drew the kind of corporate firepower Trump suggested he could harness when he ran for the Oval Office as a Washington outsider/business executive who would reach outside the Beltway and enlist other executives in support of the administration’s economic goals.

More than 30 CEOs of major U.S. companies were on hand for the summit, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh. Some later joined Trump and Saudi officials at the Royal Court Palace for a deal-signing ceremony. Those who spoke to reporters said they weren’t put off by drama surrounding the Trump White House. “We’re just seeing tremendous opportunity with Trump coming here,” said Steven Demetriou, CEO of Jacobs Engineering Group.

This will overshadow any climate warming conference in quality and quantity (dollars).

May 21, 2017: GE announces $15 billion of business deals with Saudi Arabia.

May 20, 2017: Blackstone (US) and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) each pledge $20 billion ($40 billion total) for US infrastructure projects. 

May 20, 2017: $100-billion deal? LOL. It's $110 billion immediately and $350 billion over 10 years. I did not read the story; just the headline. But one must remember this: the Saudis will need foreign expertise to do all they plan including a new militant monitoring operations center, and one can assume "the Donald" was assured by the Saudis that American companies would get first crack at new ventures. I would assume most military hardware will come from the US. By the way, this is single largest arms deal in the history of the US. And had someone else been president, it's very likely Russia would have gotten the sale. Just saying.

May 17, 2017: John Kemp --  SENIOR Gulf OPEC source wonders how to square billions of dollars of deals to be signed in KSA during Trump visit with austerity programme?

Original Post
(May 14, 2017)

Link to original post.

From Reuters: among everything else, it looks like Trump will announce a $100-billion-arms-deal for Saudi Arabia on his Mideast tour. From the article: 

The arms package could end up surpassing more than $300 billion over a decade to help Saudi Arabia boost its defensive capabilities while still maintaining U.S. ally Israel's qualitative military edge over its neighbors.

Which means Israel is going to get some kind of huge arms deal also. 

It also begs the question where Saudi Arabia will come up with the money. Perhaps some Wall Street bank. You think?

President Obama first visited Riyadh about the very same time in his first term also (June 3 - 4, 2009) and according to wiki it was mostly discussion, not much substance. Nice bow, though. 

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Saudi's Got Talent

Wrong On So Many Levels, Sultan

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