Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia is committed to implementing the initial public offering (IPO) of the Saudi Arabian Oil Co, known globally as Saudi Aramco, in the coming period as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had reported before, the oil giant’s CEO Amin Nasser said on Tuesday.
The IPO’s details will be announced subject to the market’s conditions, Nasser added on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference that started earlier today in Riyadh.
Answering a question on how solid is Saudi Arabia’s 12 million barrels per day (bpd) oil capacity? he said, “our capacity can be sustained for a long time, backed by among the largest reserves in the world, with the highest quality and the lowest cost of production.”
On 22 August, the world's largest oil producer announced halting its IPO.
In September, Moody's Investors Service said that the delay of Aramco’s local and global IPO is forecast to take its toll on the oil-rich kingdom’s economic diversification plans.
Bin Salman announced the plan of listing a stake of Aramco in 2016, which is the centerpiece of his “Vision 2030” reform plan, intended to diversify the kingdom’s economy and invest more heavily in infrastructure.
During FII day one, Aramco and France-based Total on signed a contract to build a joint venture (JV) of manufacturing industries.
The large oil firm also inked deals with a combined value of $34 billion with the US-based Schlumberger, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Air Products, Acwa Power, Sumitomo, Flexsteel, Halliburton, NPCC, and Baker Hughes.
The FII conference, dubbed “Davos in the Desert”, began in the Saudi capital earlier on Tuesday and would continue until Thursday, 25 October.
