The world’s largest oil company is working with its advisers for a listing in Riyadh for the end of the year or early 2023, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Aramco is in the process of adding more banks to the IPO, which could value the unit at more than $30 billion, the people said.in May. No final decisions have been made and the IPO could be delayed or canceled if market conditions worsen, the people said.
It marks a change for Middle Eastern oil firms, which have traditionally stuck to a simple model of pumping crude and exporting it. Now, they’re looking to boost profits by moving into more lucrative areas of the market. Western energy majors including Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE have in recent decades built significant trading arms that sometimes earn billions of dollars annually, but have tended toAramco’s IPO plan also comes amid an escalation of tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US. The Biden administration reacted angrily to this month’s decision by OPEC+ — an oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia and Russia — to cut production.
This year, Al-Buainain became head of Aramco’s sales and trading division. Mohammed Al-Mulhim, the new chief executive officer of Aramco Trading, reports to him.The parent company sold around 2% of its shares in 2019. It was the world’s biggest initial public offering, though many major international investors didn’t buy the stock because they felt the pricing was too expensive.
Aramco pumps around 11 million barrels of crude each day and its valued at $2.09 trillion, second only to Apple Inc. among global companies.