A long-delayed deal between Saudi Arabia’s flagship oil company, Saudi Aramco, and Indian conglomerate, Reliance Industries, looks closer to going ahead following the recent appointment of Aramco chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, as an independent director on the board of Reliance. Two or three years ago when the idea for the tie-up based around both companies’ oil-to-chemicals operations made some sense from both sides, now it makes great sense from Aramco’s side and no sense at all from Reliance’s, but wider geopolitical pressures mean that it is likely to go ahead anyway. Back in early 2019, a series of meetings between the top management of Saudi Aramco and Reliance Industries took place in Saudi Arabia and India, after which Reliance announced the sale of a 20 per cent stake to Saudi Aramco, which would have cost around US$15-16 billion. At that point, Aramco had a massive positive cash position and was […]