Saudi Aramco To Acquire 20 Percent Stake In Indian Reliance Refinery

Saudi state-oil giant Aramco is in advanced talks to acquire a roughly 20 percent stake in Reliance Industries Ltd’s oil refining and chemicals business for about $20 billion to $25 billion in Aramco’s shares, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, headquartered in Mumbai, India.

The Saudi Arabian firm is discussing the purchase of a roughly 20 percent stake in the Reliance unit for about $20 billion to $25 billion worth of Aramco shares, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Reliance, which is backed by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, could reach an agreement with Aramco as soon as the coming weeks, the people said.

Reliance announced a sale of a 20 percent stake in its oil-to-chemicals business to Aramco for $15 billion in 2019, but the deal stalled after oil prices and demand crashed last year due to the pandemic.

During Aramco’s earnings briefing earlier in August, Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said the company was still doing due diligence on the deal.

In late June, Reliance’s billionaire chairman Mukesh Ambani said it hopes to formalise its partnership with Aramco this year and its Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan will join the Indian conglomerate’s board as an independent director.

Shares in Reliance extended gains to as much as 2.6 percent in Mumbai after the Bloomberg News report.

A deal would forge closer ties between the world’s biggest oil exporter and one of the fastest-growing energy consumers.

It would seal more than two years of negotiations and mark Aramco’s first all-stock deal since its initial public offering in 2019. Ambani confirmed talks about a deal with an implied stake valuation of $15 billion that same year. Discussions were delayed by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and slump in oil prices.

Energy markets have since recovered, with crude prices jumping around 35 percent this year to almost $70 a barrel. Aramco said last week due diligence on a deal with Reliance was underway.

A transaction would boost Aramco’s sales of crude to India. For Reliance, it would help to lock in a steady supply of oil for its giant refineries and make the Indian company a shareholder in Aramco. Based on Aramco’s market valuation of about $1.9 trillion, a transaction would give Reliance a stake of around 1 percent.

Details of the potential transaction are still being negotiated, and talks could drag on longer or fall apart, the people said. A representative for Aramco declined to comment. The Saudi government’s Center for International Communication didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting a comment.

A representative for Reliance said the company does not have anything to add beyond Ambani’s comments at the shareholders’ meeting in June when the conglomerate appointed Aramco Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan to the board. Ambani had said Reliance could finalize an investment deal with the oil producer this year.

The Saudi government sold 2 percent of Aramco in the IPO, raising almost $30 billion. It’s still the largest first-time share sale on record.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, said in April that the kingdom was in talks to sell a 1 percent stake in Aramco to a “leading global energy company.” He didn’t disclose which one.

“This deal could be very important in strengthening Aramco’s sales in the country where this company resides,” the prince had said.

Saudi Arabia shipped 613,000 barrels a day of crude to India in July, around 10 percent of its total exports.

The transaction would help Aramco reach its goal of more than doubling refining capacity to between 8 million and 10 million barrels of crude a day. The Saudi firm had 3.6 million barrels a day of capacity at the end of last year, including stakes in joint ventures.

Aramco took full ownership of Motiva and its Port Arthur refinery in 2017 from its joint-venture partner Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

The $6.6 billion expansion would build two new petrochemical plants in addition to its existing 630,000-barrels-a-day Port Arthur refinery.

Nigeria’s state oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is currently making move to acquire a 20 percent stake in the yet-to-be-completed Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train petroleum refiner.

The federal cabinet approved the proposal by the state oil firm to invest $2.5 billion in a 20 percent share of Dangote’s oil refinery.

Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva said in a statement that NNPC will pay $2.76 billion for the 20 percent share of the 650,000 barrel capacity petroleum refinery slated for commission next year.

The NNPC had said earlier that it’s working toward safeguarding the country’s energy security while its plans to buy a 20 percent stake in privately owned refineries would not affect efforts to rehabilitate the country’s four refineries.

However, the move by NNPC to invest in Dangote Refinery has generated some controversy within the system as Nigerians were unhappy that the state-owned oil firm that could not manage its own refineries is showing interest to buy into privately owned refiner.