据彭博新闻社2023年5月11日报道，知情人士称，沙特阿拉伯国家石油公司（沙特阿美）正在推迟旗下能源贸易板块在利雅得的大规模首次公开募股（IPO）计划。这笔交易本将成为今年全球规模最大的股票发行之一。

因信息保密而要求匿名采访的知情人士透露，这家沙特国有石油巨头最近几个月大幅放慢了交易的准备工作。其中一位知情人士说，沙特阿美尚未为能源交易板块上市设定新的时间表，除非市场好转，否则上市可能会推迟到明年。

据彭博新闻社此前报道，沙特阿美一直计划在去年年底或今年年初将能源交易单位上市，并考虑寻求超过300亿美元的资产估值。知情人士表示，沙特阿美现在觉得，目前可能很难让这么大的一家企业在利雅得证交所上市。

知情人士表示，在进行IPO之前，沙特阿美还希望花更多时间完成其主要交易部门与其美国炼油业务莫蒂瓦企业公司的交易部门的整合。

通常是海湾地区最大最繁忙上市市场之一的利雅得，今年在对全球经济增长的担忧中一直非常安静，而阿布扎比等其他交易市场则成为人们关注的焦点。彭博新闻社汇编的数据显示，今年迄今在利雅得上市的公司仅筹集了7200万美元，这是自2014年以来的最低水平。去年这个时候，IPO收入接近40亿美元。

知情人士说，沙特阿美一直在与高盛集团、摩根大通和摩根士丹利等银行合作，研究可能的IPO。

知情人士说，相关讨论仍在进行中，IPO的细节可能会发生变化。沙特阿美的一名代表拒绝置评。

石油、天然气和精制燃料交易的利润最近大幅飙升。根据Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.公布的数据，bp、壳牌公司和道达尔能源公司去年共实现了370亿美元的贸易收入，原因是爆发军事冲突后能源价格和波动性大幅上升，经济也从疫情中复苏。

李峻 编译自 彭博新闻社

原文如下：

Saudi Aramco to Postpone Mega IPO of Energy Trading Unit

Saudi Aramco is pushing back a planned Riyadh initial public offering of its energy-trading business, a deal that would have ranked as one of the world’s largest share sales this year, people with knowledge of the matter said. 

The state-controlled oil company has significantly slowed down preparatory work on the deal in recent months, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It hasn’t set a new timeline for the listing, which may be postponed until next year unless the market improves, one of the people said. 

Aramco had been planning to list the business in late 2022 or early this year and was considering seeking a valuation of more than $30 billion, Bloomberg News reported previously. It now feels it could be difficult to list such a large business on the Riyadh bourse at the moment, the people said. 

The Saudi firm also wants to take more time to complete the integration of its main trading unit with the trading arm of its US refining business Motiva Enterprises LLC before proceeding with the IPO, the people said. 

Saudi Arabia, typically one of the Gulf’s biggest and busiest listing markets, has been very quiet this year amid concerns over global economic growth, while other exchanges like Abu Dhabi have stepped into the limelight. Just $72 million has been raised from listings in Riyadh, the least since 2014, data compiled by Bloomberg show. This time last year the IPO haul stood at almost $4 billion.

Aramco has been working with banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley as it studies the potential IPO, people with knowledge of the matter have said. 

Deliberations are ongoing, and details of the offering could change, the people said. A representative for Aramco declined to comment. 

Profits from trading oil, gas and refined fuel have soared recently. BP Plc, Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE together made $37 billion of trading income last year, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., as energy prices and volatility jumped following the war and as economies recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.