Saudi Arabia's national oil company Saudi Aramco has decided to reorganise its downstream activities to improve its integration across the hydrocarbon value chain and to enhance its competitiveness. The group's downstream business will be organised along four commercial business units, namely Fuels (including Refining, Trading, Retail and Lubes); Chemicals; Power; and Pipelines, Distribution and Terminals. In addition, these business units will be supported by three corporate functions: Manufacturing, Strategy and Marketing, and Affiliates Affairs. The reorganisation is expected to be in place by the end of 2020.
In December 2019, Saudi Aramco completed the largest initial public offering (IPO) in the world. The company plans to transfer all its downstream activities into a separate legal entity by the end of 2024. It will also become one of the largest petrochemical producers in terms of production capacity, thanks to the US$69.1bn acquisition of a 70% equity interest in SABIC (completed in June 2020).