Chief executive Amin Nasser told a conference in Bahrain: “We have always said the listing will happen in the second half of 2018. Everything is going very smoothly, (and) we are evaluating different stock exchanges...

“We are evaluating different stock exchanges globally and we will present this to our board and shareholder on where Aramco will be listed,” Nasser added.

Aramco’s listing is part of an ambitious plan by the Saudi Arabian government, Vision 2030, aimed at diversification of the country’s economy away from oil.

Nasser