Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Friday said that it had decided with Saudi Aramco to reevaluate the oil giant's proposed roughly $15 billion investment in Reliance's oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business. The 20 percent stake sale in the unit was announced in 2019 but was delayed as oil prices and demand crashed last year due to the pandemic.

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"Due to evolving nature of Reliance's business portfolio, Reliance and Saudi Aramco have mutually determined that it would be beneficial for both parties to re-evaluate the proposed investment in O2C business in light of the changed context," RIL said in a statement on Friday.

Mukesh Ambani-owned conglomerate added Jamnagar happens to be at the "centre" of its strategy to become a net carbon zero company.

Reliance is also withdrawing its application filed with the National Company Law Tribunal for segregating the O2C business.

Over the past two years, both firms made significant efforts in the process of due diligence, despite the COVID-19 restrictions. This has been possible due to the mutual respect and long-standing relationship between the two organisations, Reliance said in a statement.

Reliance recently unveiled its plans for the New Energy & Materials businesses by announcing the development of the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex at Jamnagar. It will be amongst the largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world, the company said.

The complex in western India accounts for a major part of the oil-to-chemicals assets.

The company will continue to be Aramco's preferred partner for private sector investments in India and it will collaborate with Saudi Aramco and SABIC for investments in Saudi Arabia, Reliance added.

In October, Reliance said it had won shareholders' backing to appoint Saudi Aramco Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as an independent director to its board.

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(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)

First Published:Nov 20, 2021 7:33 AM IST