OREANDA-NEWS. Lukoil isn't considering buying shares in Saudi Aramco as part of its IPO, the head of the Russian company, Vagit Alekperov, told reporters on the sidelines of the ADIPEC oil and gas conference in Abu Dhabi. "We aren't considering yet. Neither my fund nor Lukoil are considering investing in shares of Saudi Aramco", he said. Alekperov explained that Lukoil isn't an institutional investor, but an operating company. “We invest only in real activity", he concluded.

Officially, the Saudi authorities approved the listing of the state and largest in the world oil production Saudi Aramco on November 3. The corresponding permission was issued by the national capital market committee. For the first time, plans to sell part of the national company’s shares to the market in 2016 were announced by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, who announced his intention to place a 5% stake in the company. At the same time, he estimated Aramco at $ 2 trillion.

However, according to media reports, the Saudi authorities eventually agreed to a lower valuation of the company - $ 1.6-1.8 trillion. At the same time, according to estimates of various banks, the total cost of Aramco following the results of the placement may turn out to be even less - $ 1.1 trillion.