Aramco CEO says still studying foreign exchanges for 2018 IPO

State-owned Saudi Aramco is still looking at several exchanges abroad including New York, Hong Kong, and London for a planned initial public offering (IPO) for part of the oil giant, Reuters reported, citing chief executive Amin Nasser.

“This thing will happen in 2018,” Nasser told reporters in Dubai.

He added that Aramco is working with Chinese partners to find locations for crude storage, and plans to boost its oil recovery rate to 70 percent from a current 50-55 percent.

Aramco’s planned listing of about 5 percent is part of a broader set of reforms under the kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiative, which plans to wean Saudi Arabia’s hydrocarbon-driven economy off of oil.

Last month, energy minister Khalid Al-Falih said the oil giant is not planning to seek strategic partners to participate in the offering, and will rather leave it open to all investors.

Aramco’s listing will lure foreign investors to the kingdom, and enable the company to scale up its upstream investments abroad, he added.