Reliance (RIL) Scraps Plan to Sell Oil-to-Chemicals Stake to Aramco - Bloomberg

Reliance (RIL) Scraps Plan to Sell Oil-to-Chemicals Stake to Aramco - Bloomberg

Reliance Industries Ltd. scrapped a plan announced more than two years ago to sell a 20% stake in its oil-to-chemicals unit to Saudi Arabian Oil Co. as the Indian company focuses on its renewable energy investments.

“Due to evolving nature of Reliance’s business portfolio, Reliance and Saudi Aramco have mutually determined that it would be beneficial for both parties to re-evaluate the proposed investment in O2C business in light of the changed context,” the Indian company said in a late Friday statement. It will also shelve plans to spin off this business into a separate entity.

The announcement puts brakes on a deal that was two years in the making and underscores the pivot underway at Reliance, helmed by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, toward green energy. The Aramco deal, Ambani had told shareholders in 2019, would be the biggest ever investment in an Indian and forge a closer alliance between the world’s biggest oil exporter and India’s most largest company by market value.

Reliance and Saudi Aramco signed a non-binding letter of intent in August 2019 for a potential 20% stake in Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals unit valued at about $15 billion. But since then, Reliance has shifted its focus to include a plan for developing one of the largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world. The complex would consist of solar photovoltaic module, battery, green hydrogen and fuel cell factories.