Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Bloomberg that the initial public offering of a portion of shares in Aramco’s parent company – first reported by the Economist magazine - may even go ahead as soon as next year.

Salman told the news wire that cash raised from the share sale will be ploughed into the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which the kingdom hopes will eventually control assets worth more than $2 trillion.

“Undoubtedly,