The investment in Hyundai Oilbank has been made through the company’s subsidiary Aramco Overseas Company (AOC)

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Image: Saudi Aramco completes acquisition of 17% stake in Hyundai Oilbank for $1.2bn. Photo: courtesy of Capri23auto from Pixabay.

Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) has completed the acquisition of a 17% stake in Hyundai Oilbank from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for around $1.2bn.

The investment in Hyundai Oilbank has been made through the company’s subsidiary Aramco Overseas Company (AOC).

Saudi Aramco said that the transaction was completed after receiving all the necessary regulatory consents and approvals.

The deal was signed by Aramco in April this year with HHI to acquire stake in the South Korean refining company Hyundai Oilbank.

The transaction is expected to support Saudi Aramco’s downstream growth strategy of expanding its global footprint in refining, chemicals and marketing businesses which allows Saudi Aramco to place crude oil and use its trading capabilities.

Hyundai Oilbank operates about 2,400 gas stations

Initially, the petroleum and natural gas company signed an agreement to acquire a stake of up to 19.9% in Hyundai Oilbank for about $1.6bn in January this year. The deal valued Hyundai Oilbank at approximately $8.95bn.

The South Korean refining company was established in 1964 and has a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels of oil a day. The company’s business portfolio and its five subsidiaries include oil refining, base oil, petrochemicals and a network of gas stations.

Hyundai Oilbank exports petroleum to all parts of the world and operates about 2,400 gas stations and charging stations across the nation.

The Daesan complex located in Seosan, Chungcheongnamdo serves as the headquarters of the refining company.

Furthermore, the complex is equipped with oil refining facilities, which have a refining capacity of 561,000 barrels a day.

In August, Saudi Aramco signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) with Indian firm Reliance Industries (RIL) to acquire a 20% stake in the latter’s Oil to Chemicals (O2C) division in a deal worth $75bn (£62.3bn).

The proposed investment will enable Saudi Aramco to supply 500,000 barrels per day of crude oil to the RIL’s Jamnagar refinery on a long-term basis.