Total CEO says could consider participation in Saudi Aramco IPO

By Bate Felix (Reuters) - French oil and gas major Total could consider taking a stake in the planned listing of part of Saudi Arabia's Aramco, the company's chief executive said on Thursday. Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne told an oil summit in Paris that it was all premature as the market was still awaiting details on how the initial public offering (IPO) would be done, but added it could be a meaningful partnership for Total in Saudi Arabia. "We may consider it," Pouyanne said, who also stated that any final decision was "a matter of profitability and best allocation of capital." "It is not clear today how they want to do the IPO," said Pouyanne, who added: "I'm sure that it would be a good investment...because Saudi Aramco has a real business case." The Saudi government plans to list up to 5 percent of Aramco on the Saudi stock exchange in Riyadh, the Tadawul, and on one or more international markets in the second quarter of 2018. Analysts think this could raise $100 billion (78.03 billion pounds), based on Aramco being valued at $2 trillion. Pouyanne said: "With $1 billion, Total could acquire 0.1 percent, which is quite small." Amin Nasser, chief executive of Aramco, who was also at the summit, said plans for the IPO were on track as earlier stated. He declined to comment further on the topic. (Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)