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FILE PHOTO: An Aramco employee walks near an oil tank at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018.  REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo

by businessinsider.com —Saudi Aramco on Monday said it agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Reliance Industries’ refining and petrochemicals business, valued at $75 billion. The $15 billion deal between the world’s largest oil producer and Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man as well as Reliance’s chairman and largest shareholder, gives it a stake in the Jamnagar Refinery in India, which can process an unmatched 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day. The Saudi oil titan has been investing heavily in refineries as it looks to double its daily processing capacity to as much as 10 million barrels of crude oil by 2030, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Reliance has been seeking to sell assets including cellphone towers and oil and gas fields to lower its debt, estimated at $32 billion by Bloomberg.

Saudi Aramco’s profits slumped by 12%, to just under $47 billion, in the first half of this year, it said in its earnings release. “I am truly delighted to welcome Saudi Aramco, one of the largest business enterprises in the world, as a potential investor in our Oil to Chemicals division,” Ambani said in a statement. “We have a long-standing crude oil relationship with Saudi Aramco and we would be happy to see this further strengthened with this investment.” Reliance agreed to purchase 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Saudi Aramco as part of the deal, Ambani said. “Saudi Aramco’s interest is a strong endorsement of the quality of our assets and operations as well as of the potential of India,” he added.