Saudi Arabia is considering selling shares in its state-owned giant oil company, Saudi Aramco.
The company said in a statement Friday that it was studying various options “to allow broad public participation in its equity through listing in the capital markets.”
Aramco is the world’s largest oil producer: It claims to produce 1 in every 8 barrels of the world’s crude oil.
It also sits on a huge amount of oil. It says it has 261 billion barrels of proven reserves, roughly 15% of the world’s total.
Even a partial listing of Aramco would raise billions of dollars at a time when Saudi Arabia’s finances are getting crushed by cheap oil prices.
Crude has collapsed from well over $100 per barrel to just above $33 in the last 18 months.
Oil accounts for 75% of Saudi Arabia’s revenue, and the plunge in prices is hurting the kingdom’s budget big time.
The government spent way more than it collected in 2015 — leading to a budget deficit of nearly $100 billion. It announced a series of budget cuts, and even hiked the price of gasoline by 50%.