Saudi Arabia’s government is considering whether to list on the stock market a “proper share capital” of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest producer of crude oil, to raise funds in the context of lower crude oil prices, writes the international financial media. .

Better options for the company are to list some of the assets in distribution or refining, than the ones in extraction, highlights a number of financial analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Aramco owns directly crude oil processing facilities with a capacity of 3.1 million barrels per day (bpd), and is the fourth largest refiner after Exxon Mobil, Shell and Sinopec. With indirect holdings in joint ventures, its processing capacity goes up to 5.3 million bpd, and the company has plans to double this capacity by 2025. In short, in its own, Aramco could meet the Chinese fuel needs, Bloomberg calculated.

Aramco has oil reserves of about 265 billion barrels, 15% of the world’s known oil deposits, 10 times more than the largest publicly listed oil company, ExxonMobil. According to analysts, if an IPO is launched, Aramco could become the world’s largest publicly traded company, with a value of over 1,000 billion dollars.

“This is under analysis and we think a decision will be taken in the coming months. Personally, I am excited about this step. I think it is in the interest of Saudi market and in the interest of Aramco, because it will increase transparency”, said Mohammed bin Salman, Prince Heir for Saudi Arabia. Aramco produces over 10 million bpd, three times more than the US company ExxonMobil.