West at risk of losing oil money

DAVOS, Switzerland With Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Qatar saying they plan to channel more of their revenue from oil sales into Asian countries to lift returns and strengthen ties with their fastest-growing customers, concerns are growing that the United States and Europe will lose investment.

Officials from the Gulf monarchies, which sold about $300 billion worth of oil last year, said in interviews at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting last week that they intended to tap economic expansion in India and China.

Kuwait’s government investment fund is “realigning” investment from countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to emerging markets, said Bader Mohammad al-Saad, managing director of the Kuwait Investment Authority, whose assets exceed $100 billion.

“The surpluses will be channeled to these countries,” he said.

Bloomberg