- Plans around retail and lubricants business at early stage.
- Saudi oil producer is selling stakes in assets like pipelines.
Saudi Aramcois considering selling a stake in its retail fuels and lubricants business, and could list shares on the Riyadh stock exchange, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Talks about a initial public offering are at an early stage and Aramco may opt against any sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential matters. Aramco didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Aramco set up a retail unit in 2018 to expand its downstream operations. A year later, the company agreed todevelopa Saudi gasoline-station chain with French oil major TotalEnergies SE.
“Aramco has developed a retail strategy that will initially focus on establishing its presence in the kingdom in advance of its long-term goal to be one of the primary global retail players,” it said in its 2020 annual report, without disclosing the unit’s earnings or revenue.
Raising Cash
The word’slargest oil companyis increasingly looking for new ways to raise cash to maintain a $75 billion dividend, most of which goes to the Saudi government, and keep up with huge investment plans. Over the coming decades Aramco is committed to developing the multi-billion dollar Jafurah gas field, expanding its oil-production capacity to13 million barrels a day, and pushing into hydrogen production.
Aramco’s dividends are a major source of revenue for the government. The kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is looking for funds to develop non-oil industries from tourism to pharmaceuticals and electric vehicles.
Since a 2019 IPO that raised almost $30 billion, Aramco has sold a $12.4 billion stake in oil pipelines to a group led by Washington-based EIG Global. It is in the process of divesting a stake in itsnatural-gas pipelines, Bloomberg reported this week. It’s also weighingopeningthe Jafurah field to foreign investors, people familiar told Bloomberg in September.