You can stop holding your breath for a deal between Saudi Aramco and Reliance Industries. Over the weekend, it was announced that Aramco had canceled its plan to purchase a stake in the Indian oil refiner worth $15b.
The two energy giants had signed a non-binding letter of intent back in 2019 that outlined Saudi Aramco to purchase a 20% stake in what would have become Reliance Industries’ oil to chemicals business (O2C). The creation of the oil to chemicals spinoff, which would have been called Reliance O2C, was contingent upon the deal with Aramco and has now been put on hold. There are no hard feelings, though, and both companies foresee some sort of future cooperation.
Why it matters
So why did the deal fall through? It seems both companies have decided to shift priority towards developing renewable energy. After Reliance decided to make Jamnagar (which holds a majority of its O2C assets) the center for its renewable energy business, Aramco and Reliance mutually agreed to cancel the deal.
