CEO: Saudi Aramco IPO on track for second half, pending venue choice

Saudi Aramco’s chief executive Amin Nasser said the stateowned oil firm’s initial public offering is on track for the second half of this year, but that no decision has been made regarding listing venues.

“The company is ready for listing in 2018 when the decision is taken on the listing venue,” Mr Nasser told Reuters at the company’s headquarters.

“We want to see if there is going to be a listing in another market [in addition to the Saudi stock exchange, or Tadawul]. There is a committee that is formed that looks into it and whenever the decision is taken the company is ready to implement.”

Tadawul chief executive Khalid Al Hussan told The National in October he hoped the Saudi bourse would be the exclusive venue for Aramco’s IPO, but that such a proposition could not be taken for granted.

The listing of up to 5 per cent of the oil company’s shares, the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic reform plan, could generate up to US$100 billion for the kingdom’s government.

Separately, Aramco yesterday signed a three-way agreement that includes a unit of US energy firm Chevron to help market and scale up Aramco’s Thermal Crude to Chemicals technology, which helps to derive higher chemical yields from crude.

The technology complements Saudi Aramco’s crude-to-chemicals projects and will help to grow the company’s chemicals business, it said.

Aramco signed the joint development agreement with CB&I, a US provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry, and Chevron Lummus Global, a joint venture between CB&I and Chevron.

“Today’s joint development agreement with CB&I and CLG is a technological first which will position Saudi Aramco to maximise the value of each barrel of crude oil it produces in the near future,” said Mr Nasser.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is beefing up its petrochemicals business to create a supplementary source of income to oil, create jobs and develop downstream industries.

Aramco and Saudi Basic Industries Corp, Mena’s biggest petrochemical producer, signed an agreement in November to build one of the world’s largest oil-to-chemicals facilities, valued at $20bn.

The integrated complex will process about 400,000 barrels per day of oil that would be turned into about 9 million tonnes of chemicals and base oils annually.

The facility is set to begin operations in 2025.