Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia is settling for a local listing while its planned international initial public offering (IPO) seems a thankless task, informed sources told Reuters.

In this battle, the Kingdom's main ally is its emerging market status, given by the MSCI index, and by which the GCC biggest nation seeks to attract more investments from East and West.

“I would guess it is about evens that there will be no international IPO,” an informed source told the international news agency.

Saudi Arabia had announced plans to list up to 5% of its state-owned oil producer. The IPO was estimated as the largest in the world, even if it were only at 5% of the company. Aramco's market capitalisation has been estimated at $2 trillion, making it the largest company by market cap.

Last week, Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid Al Falih said Aramco's IPO was too big a risk to list in the US, citing litigation concerns, such as existing lawsuits against rival oil firms for their role in climate change.

In January, the Saudi government stated that it was on the verge of executing an IPO for Saudi Arabian Oil Co, or Saudi Aramco, on global stock markets through converting the crude producer into a joint-stock company at SAR 60 billion.

Earlier in March, British officials revealed that Aramco’s IPO may be delayed until 2019, citing Saudi officials.