Saudi Arabia is planning to pump the proceeds from Saudi Arabian Oil Co.'s initial public offering into the local economy, which includes developing its defense industry, Reuters reported Jan. 21 citing comments made by the kingdom's finance minister, Mohammed al-Jadaan.

Saudi Aramco, as the oil giant is commonly known, exercised its overallotment option of 450,000,000 additional shares, which resulted in aggregate IPO proceeds of $29.4 billion. In December 2019, Aramco raised a record $25.6 billion during its share sale.

Al-Jadaan told Reuters that new and existing local industries, which include defense and technology, will get a capital boost.

Reuters said that Saudi Arabia has started a drive to localize 50% of its military spending led by the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), which is owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

The Sept. 14, 2019, drone attacks on Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil processing plant and Khurais oil field temporarily took out 5.7 million barrels per day of the country's crude oil production, which is equal to around 5% of the world's total output.