Petro Rabigh expects positive financial impact from Aramco acquisition

Logo of Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh)

​Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) expects positive financial impact from Saudi Aramco’s move to acquire its 375.97 million shares (22.5% of capital) from Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical.

In a statement to Tadawul, Petro Rabigh highlighted the measure accompanying the acquisition as Aramco and Sumitomo agreed to take specific steps to improve Petro Rabigh’s financial position and support its transformation strategy.

The steps include waiving existing revolving shareholder loans totaling SAR 5.63 billion and provided equally by Aramco and Sumitomo—SAR 3.75 was waived in August 2024 and SAR 1.88 billion in January 2025.

The steps additionally include injecting an aggregate amount of SAR 5.26 billion divided equally from each of Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo, into Petro Rabigh through the subscription for the Class B shares.

On Oct. 8, Aramco announced the completion of its acquisition of 375.97 million Class A ordinary shares in Petro Rabigh, representing approximately 22.5% of capital, from Sumitomo, Argaam reported.

Additionally, the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) witnessed a negotiated deal on about 375.97 million shares of Petro Rabigh, valued at SAR 2.63 billion. The transaction represented roughly 22.49% of the company’s total 1.67 billion shares.

In August 2024, Aramco signed a binding agreement to acquire an additional 22.5% stake in Petro Rabigh from Sumitomo for $702 million (SAR 2.63 billion), at SAR 7 per share, making Aramco the largest shareholder in Petro Rabigh with a stake of nearly 60%. Sumitomo’s ownership drops to 15%.