MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's crown prince said in televised remarks that the kingdom was in discussions to sell 1% of state oil firm Saudi Aramco to a leading global energy company, said Reuters.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Aramco, the world's biggest oil company which listed on the Saudi bourse in late 2019, could sell further shares including to international investors within the next year or two. "There are talks now for the acquisition of a 1% stake by a leading global energy company in an important deal that would boost Aramco's sales in ... a major country," he said, without elaborating.
"There are talks with other companies for different stakes, and part of Aramco's shares could be transferred to the (Saudi) Public Investment Fund and a part listed ... on the Saudi bourse," he said in an interview aired by Saudi TV marking the fifth anniversary of Vision 2030.
The Aramco initial public offering in 2019 was seen as a pillar of the economic diversification programme aimed at attracting foreign investment. Aramco raised USD25.6 billion in the IPO and later sold more shares under a "greenshoe option" to raise the total to USD29.4 billion.
The crown prince in 2016 announced a plan to raise as much as USD100 billion via an international and domestic listing of a 5% stake in Aramco. In 2017 sources said Chinese state-owned companies PetroChina and Sinopec had written to Aramco to express an interest in a direct deal.
Listing plans were halted in 2018 and when they were revived the following year the deal found little interest beyond the Gulf. Riyadh scaled back its ambitions and canceled roadshows in New York and London, selling a 1.7% stake and relying on mainly domestic and regional buyers. The proceeds of that offer were transferred to the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Prince Mohammed’s vehicle of choice to transform the Saudi economy and diversify away from oil revenue.
As MRC informed earlier, COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented decline in demand affecting all sections of the Russian economy, which has impacted the demand for petrochemicals in the short-term. However, the pandemic triggered an increase in the demand for polymers in food packaging, and cleaning and hygiene products, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. With Russian petrochemical companies having the advantage of access to low-cost feedstock, and proximity to demand-rich Asian (primarily China) and European markets for the supply of petrochemical products, these companies appear to be well-positioned to derive full benefits from an improving market environment and global economy post-COVID-19, says GlobalData.
We remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (PE) consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC