I think he means the petroleum era in regards to Saudi Arabia's future. They can see the writing on the wall and would be foolish to not diversify.
Whether they will be successful at creating a semi-utopian city is another story. I expect it to have the same warts as the rest of the region in regards to migrant labor, human rights and civil rights.
>I think he means the petroleum era in regards to Saudi Arabia's future. They can see the writing on the wall and would be foolish to not diversify.
How different is that though? We are bombarded with news about electric cars all the time, but the reality is that we are still a very long way from the world (Remember, US is only 4% of the world's population) embracing electric vehicles.
So while eventually the world is going to move away from petrochemicals, it is too early to say we are anywhere near the end of petroleum era, even from the financial perspective of Saudi Arabia depending on petroleum. Saudi Aramco is a behemoth whose value and cash flow is insane even keeping in mind how the country hemorrhages money by unnecessary expenditure. It's market capitalization is disputed in the range of trillions.
Whether they will be successful at creating a semi-utopian city is another story. I expect it to have the same warts as the rest of the region in regards to migrant labor, human rights and civil rights.