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   Possible Stock IPO by Saudis' Aramco Could Create Trillion-Dollar Company

   by VOA News

   Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company is considering selling shares to
   investors in a public offering that could set the company's value at $1
   trillion, or possibly much more.

   Saudi Aramco, as the company is known, controls the world's largest oil
   reserves, and currently accounts for 10 percent of the entire world's
   oil production -- three times as much as ExxonMobil, the next largest
   producer.

   Financial markets would set the price of Aramco shares if the company
   decides to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) -- one of
   several courses the firm is considering.

   Most financial-industry analysts expect public bids would raise
   Aramco's share price, the company's market capitalization, high enough
   to ensure it becomes the world's most valuable publicly traded company,
   dwarfing the computer giant Apple, which is valued at slightly more
   than $500 billion.

   Speculation about Aramco's plans has increased rapidly this week, and
   the Dhahran-based company said in a statement Friday that "it has been
   studying various options to allow broad public participation in its
   equity."

   Aramco said an IPO is only of several options it is considering, but
   that it intends to accomplish "through the listing in the capital
   markets of an appropriate percentage of the company's shares and/or the
   listing of a bundle of its downstream subsidiaries."

   In an interview with the Economist magazine, Deputy Crown Prince
   Mohammed bin Salman said that a decision will be made in the next few
   months.

   A public offering for even a small slice of Aramco would provide
   significant funds for Saudi Arabia at a time when the kingdom's economy
   is under pressure due to the slump in world oil prices.

   A barrel of Brent crude oil, Saudi Arabia's main export, is currently
   trading at the lowest price in more than a decade.

   Fundamentally, opening Aramco to outside investors would be the most
   dramatic change in the kingdom's economic policy since it adopted
   nationalization in the 1970s.

   Saudi Aramco has a global reach, with interests in exploration,
   production, refining, chemicals, distribution and marketing. The
   company manages more than 100 oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia and
   produced 3.4 billion barrels of oil in 2013.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/possible-stock-ipo-saudi-arabia-aramc
   o-trillions-possible/3137094.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/possible-stock-ipo-saudi-arabia-aramco-trillions-possible/3137094.html