Saudi Aramco keeps Reliance I ndustri e s ’ stake sale hopes alive

MUMBAI: Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil exporter, is doing due diligence on buying a USD 15 billion stake in Reliance Indus tries L td's refining and petrochemical business, its CEO Amin Nasser said.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani had in August l ast y ear announced pl ans to sell to Aramco a 20% stake in RIL's oilto-chemical (O2C) business, which he valued at USD 75 billion. The deal was to close by March 2020 but has been delayed.

"With regard to the Reliance deal, all I can sa y at this s tage (is tha t) it's going through the due diligence," Nasser said in J une qua rter earnings ca ll with investors.

"So, depending on the due diligence, we will mak e our decision after we complete the due dil igence on tha t deal." According to the trans cript of the investor call, he w ent on t o sta te that the deal to b uy a stak e in the world's larg est s ingle-location oil refining co mplex and India's biggest petrochemical assets "is a big deal. So, we need to take our time to review and then d ecide bas ed on the outcome of the due diligence study".

Ambani had at RIL's annual general meeting las t month sta ted that the Aramco deal had been delayed "due to unforeseen cir cumstances in the energy market and the COVID-19 situation". He neither said if the deal was on track nor g ave any fresh timelines for its completion.

Nasser too did not give timelines for completion of the deal saying discussions with Reliance were still on and shareholders wil l be upda ted "in due course".

RIL's O2C business comprises of the company's tw in r efineries a t J amnagar in Gujar at, petrochemical plants, and 51% in fuel retailing venture.