Pop quiz: What’s the most profitable company in the world? Apple? Google?
小测验：世界上最赚钱的公司是什么公司？是苹果？还是谷歌？

Nope. Those two don’t even come close. The answer is Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, Aramco. In 2018, Saudi Aramco made $111 billion dollars in profit. The second-most profitable company, Apple, made $60 billion that year.
都不是，这两家公司都差远了。最赚钱的公司是沙特阿拉伯的国家石油公司——沙特阿美石油公司。2018年沙特阿美纯利润为1110亿美元，同年第二大盈利公司苹果公司的利润为600亿美元。

图片来源：视觉中国

On November 3, Aramco officially announced its plan to go public for the first time in the company’s 86-year history. And on November 17, the oil giant announced the company could be valued at $1.7 trillion. Energy historian Ellen R. Wald joined Today, Explained to explain why Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) is such a big deal.
11月3日，成立86年的阿美公司首次正式宣布上市计划。11月17日这家石油巨头公司宣布估值为1.7万亿美元。能源历史学家Ellen R. Wald作客播客《Today, Explained》解释了为什么阿美公司上市如此重要。

As the most profitable company in the entire world, she says, the company’s IPO is going to set major records. And since it’s the largest oil company in the world, it’s likely that a lot of everyday things we use — from plastic to the energy fueling our cars — touches this company.
她说这家公司是全球最赚钱的公司，首次公开募股将创下重大纪录。因为它是世界最大的石油公司，我们日常使用的很多东西，从塑料到汽车燃料，可能都与这家公司有关。

“In the United States,” Wald says as an example, “Aramco owns the largest refinery in the entire country. And it also owns Shell Gasoline Stations in the southeastern United States. So many Americans may be buying oil — or gasoline — that is made by Aramco, and they don’t even know it.”
Wald举例说：“在美国阿美公司拥有全国最大的炼油厂，在美国东南部还有壳牌加油站，所以很多美国人可能都在买阿美公司的燃油或汽油，而他们自己可能都不知道。”

But some say the timing for the Aramco IPO couldn’t be worse. One reason for that: Some people think that the world has or will soon reach peak oil demand. Another, Wald explains, is the “PR nightmare” that Saudi Arabia created with the killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
但一些人说阿美公司上市时间选错了，其中一个原因是：有些人认为全世界已经或将很快达到石油需求峰值。Wald解释说另外一个原因是沙特阿拉伯针对持不同政见的沙特记者贾迈勒·卡舒吉死亡事件制造的“公关噩梦”。

 

翻译：菲菲