While it wasn’t immediately clear exactly how much of the demand came from overseas, the order book reflected a mix of local and foreign investors, three people familiar with the matter said.
The extent of foreign participation will be closely watched as an indicator of interest in Saudi assets. During Aramco‘s 2019 initial public offering, the $29.4-billion listing drew orders worth $106 billion, and about 23% of shares were allocated to foreign buyers.
A top selling point of the latest offer is the chance to reap one of the oil industry‘s biggest dividends. Aramco shares fell as much as 2.9% to 28.30 riyals Sunday, valuing the firm at about $1.8 trillion.
The stock has dropped about 14% since the start of this year, when Bloomberg News first reported the government’s intention to offload a stake, and is currently trading at its lowest levels in over a year.OPEC+ to extend output cuts
Meanwhile, producers’ group OPEC+ agreed to extend its oil supply cuts, delegates said, as it continues its efforts to avert a global surplus and shore up prices.
The so-called “voluntary” cuts from key members including Saudi Arabia and Russia, which total roughly 2 million barrels a day and were set to expire at the end of June, will continue until the end of 2024, delegates said, asking not to be named. Those curbs were in addition to an earlier group-wide agreement capping crude output that runs until the end of this year. The alliance also agreed to prolong that accord to the end of 2025, as per a statement on the OPEC website.
