Oil WSJ: Saudi Arabia plans to sell shares of its historic oil giant, backed by the Crown Prince’s goal to reform the country’s economy

World Saudi Aramco, the largest oil and energy company, plans to sell its shares for up to $ 50 million, or about € 43 million, says The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

According to WSJ, the oil giant listed on the Saudi Arabian stock exchange is currently planning a historically large share issue, in connection with which it could also be listed on the London or Singapore stock exchanges, for example.

The plan is to sell up to $ 50 million worth of shares, which would mean about 2.5 percent stake in the company, sources familiar with Aramco’s strategy tell WSJ. According to the magazine, the share issue would be historically large and may prove difficult to implement in practice.

At the moment, however, this is only a plan that may still be delayed or changed. Saudi Aramco listed to the stock exchange only in 2019, when its listing had been postponed for a long time.

In Saudi Arabia is estimated to account for less than a fifth of the world’s oil reserves. The country’s oil production is owned by the royal-owned Saudi Aramco, the world’s fourth most profitable listed company after Apple, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Microsoft.

According to WSJ, Saudi Arabia has long wanted to sell part of Aramco and invest in new sectors. This is the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman an ambitious plan to reform Saudi Arabia’s heavily oil-based economy.

The price of oil has been at its highest level since 2014 and its demand has been growing. According to WSJ, Aramco is trying to fund now that investors are still interested in fossil fuels and, for example, different climate criteria do not yet influence purchasing decisions too much.

A possible new share issue or listing is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year or early 2023 at the latest, an unnamed source tells WSJ.