MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco's shares traded at Riyals 35.2 (USD9.39) at its debut on the local stock exchange, 10% higher than its initial public offer of Riyals 32, valuing the company at USD1.88 trillion following an IPO for a 1.5% stake in the world's biggest oil producer and most profitable company, reported S&P Global.
Aramco shares are trading under the symbol 2222, according to the local stock exchange known as Tadawul. The IPO valued the company at USD1.7 trillion.
The shares will be capped at a 10% plus or minus daily price fluctuation limit.
Aramco's USD25.6 billion IPO, which is the biggest after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's USD25 billion sale in 2014, is a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 aimed at weaning the kingdom off its oil income.
Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman had initially said the company could be valued at USD2 trillion, with a stake sale of up to 5%.
However, lukewarm international investor interest in the IPO prompted the Saudi government to postpone the IPO that was slated to take place in 2018 and make it a local listing rather than an international and domestic flotation as was first touted by the crown prince.
As MRC informed before, Saudi Aramco, which temporarily lost half of its oil production following the September 14 attacks on two key oil facilities, is running its local refineries at full capacity and is forging ahead with plans to start up new refineries. The company is also starting up a joint venture refinery in Malaysia next year. According to Aramco's bond prospectus released in April, the refining and petrochemical joint venture with Petronas - the Malaysian national oil company - collectively known as PRefChem, was supposed to start this year.
The PRefChem joint venture includes a 300,000 b/d refinery, an integrated steam cracker with capacity to produce 1.3 million mt of ethylene located in Johor, Malaysia. Aramco was supposed to provide a significant portion of PRefChem's crude supply under a long-term supply agreement. Jazan and PrefChem will help Aramco reach a gross refining capacity of 5.6 million b/d, it said in the prospectus. The company currently owns and has stakes in four refineries abroad with a total refining capacity exceeding 2 million b/d.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.
Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
MRC