Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is mulling selling as much as $15 billion of bonds this year in what would be the country’s first on the international capital markets according to unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

Emboldened by fellow OPEC member, Qatar’s record issuance last week, Saudi Arabia is considering a sale of at least $10 billion in five-, 10- and 30-year bonds following the end of Ramadan in July, the sources said. As the discussions are still at an initial stage, no final decision has been but the plans appear consistent with recent reports.

Countries in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which encompasses the two-biggest Arab economies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are weighing forays into public markets after the plunge in oil prices have dented their domestic budgets. “Qatar last week saw encouraging demand for a $9bn sale of bonds with orders of $23bn received which is impressively over-subscribed,” said Floyd Paché, chief economist at Shinsei Corporate Management.

The sale was the biggest-ever from the Middle East. In April, Abu Dhabi raised $5 billion from the auction of five- and 10-year bonds while Dubai is also rumored to be arranging an international bond sale of its own this year.

“These are unprecedented sums from countries that have traditionally simply relied on the huge revenues from oil sales,” said Paché. “This could be the start of a new paradigm in Middle East financing now that shale oil could conceivably continue to keep downward pressure on crude prices for many years to come”.

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