Oil & Gas Investors may shun Gulf as oil prices fall, BoA says By Megha Merani February 26, 2025, 10:56 AM Pexels/Tom Fournier The US is likely to pump more oil under Donald Trump's presidency Trump wants more US oil Bank of America issues warning Chief investment strategist in Dubai President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” push to increase US oil production and potentially drive lower prices could dampen investor appetite for Gulf Arab markets, according to the Bank of America. Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-largest oil producer, has been on a marketing blitz in the US this past week, hosting an investor conference in Miami which was attended by Trump. The kingdom is spending billions on infrastructure and other projects to diversify its economy away from oil and create jobs, for which it is also seeking private sector investment. “Investors want to be in places which will benefit from a lower oil price,” Bank of America chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett told AGBI during a visit to Dubai. “That’s better for China, for India, for Europe – it’s relatively less good for the Gulf.” Bank of America is the world’s second largest bank by market value. Oil prices and exports, on which Gulf Arab governments depend for much of their revenue and national wealth, have declined to under $70 per barrel to more than three-year lows. “We have more energy than any other nation in the world, and we are going to use it,” Trump told delegates at the Miami conference this month. The war in the Middle East and inherent tension has not helped encourage investor appetite in the region. “The Gulf is somewhat safer than other parts of the Middle East, but its markets have still been penalised by volatile geopolitics,” Harnett said. Oil slips after Trump calls on Opec to lower prices Trump hails Saudi Arabia at investment event in Miami InvestSaudi to open second US office in Miami More broadly, investor appetite for so-called emerging markets, like the Gulf, is not what it was. “If this were 10 or 15 years ago, when investors were chasing emerging markets, the Gulf’s rise would have been much easier,” he said. “Unfortunately, the rise of the Gulf is happening with a much more challenging global backdrop.” Investors are a “little bit more risk averse this decade,” he said.
