Saudi Aramco plans three-way stock market listing

Saudi Arabia is planning a three-way stock market listing for state-owned oil and gas company Saudi Aramco in London, New York and Hong Kong, the British daily The Telegraph reported. If listed, Saudi Aramco would overshadow ExxonMobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company with a market capitalisation of USD 367 billion. The IPO is estimated to be worth USD 125 billion, based on a valuation of the entire firm of USD 2.5 trillion, the report said.

Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest oil producer and proven reserve holder.

The Saudi government hopes to attract companies including Sinopec Group, ExxonMobil and BP to take strategic stakes in the company, by offering “long-term access to upstream operations” in Saudi Arabia, in exchange for “cutting-edge technology or refinery deals,” the paper reported.

“Sinopec Group has wide-ranging cooperation with Saudi Aramco in the up, mid and downstream segments of the oil and gas industry,” a Sinopec Group spokesman said. “In regards to becoming a strategic investor in Saudi Aramco, we do not have any discloseable news at the moment.”

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was quoted by Bloomberg early last month saying that Saudi Arabia was planning an IPO to sell shares amounting to around 5% of the company, as soon as next year to raise funds to help reach its goal of breaking its economy’s oil dependence.