Riyadh – Mubasher: Fitch Ratings has revised the Saudi Arabian Oil Company's (Saudi Aramco) outlook to Negative from Stable while affirming the company's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'A'.

The revision of the outlook on Saudi Aramco's IDR to Negative is driven by a similar action on the sovereign, according to a recent report.

“The company's IDR is constrained at that of its majority shareholder Saudi Arabia (A/Negative), given close links between the company and the sovereign,” Fitch said.

The rating agency assessed the oil giant’s standalone credit profile (SCP) at 'aa+'.

Furthermore, Fitch expected Saudi Aramco's liquids production to fall by about 7% yearly in 2020 and then to rebound gradually in 2021-2022; noting that the company will benefit from stabilised oil prices.