Saudi Arabia has cancelled the domestic as well as international stock listing of state oil giant Aramco, billed as the biggest such deal and IPO in history.
The financial advisers working on the proposed listing (IPO) have been dispersed, as Saudi Arabia shifts its attention to a proposed acquisition of a “strategic stake” in local petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE.
However, Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond and the Saudi Royal Court had no immediate comment.
The proposed listing of the national champion was a major part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reform drive with the aim of restructuring the kingdom’s economy and reducing its dependence on oil revenue.
The prince fixed the plan to sell about 5 per cent of Aramco in 2016 via a local and an international listing, expecting the sale would value the whole company at $2 trillion or more. But, several industry experts questioned whether a valuation that high was realistic, which prevented the process of preparing the IPO for the advisers.
Stock exchanges in financial centers including London, New York and Hong Kong had been competing to host the international tranche of the share sale.
As of 2020, Aramco is one of the largest companies in the world by revenue. Saudi Aramco has the world’s second-largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 270 billion barrels (43 billion cubic metres) as well as the largest daily oil production of all oil producing companies.
Saudi Aramco runs the world’s largest single hydrocarbon network, the Master Gas System. The total value of its 2013 crude oil production was 3.4 billion barrels (540 million cubic metres), and it operates and manages over one hundred oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia. These include 288.4 trillion standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas reserves. Saudi Aramco runs the Ghawar Field, the world’s largest onshore oil field, and the Safaniya Field, the world’s largest offshore oil field.
