China offers to buy 5% stake in Saudi oil giant

China is offering to buy up to 5% of Saudi Aramco directly, in a move that could give Saudi Arabia the flexibility to consider various options for its plan to float the world’s biggest oil producer on the stock market.

Chinese state-owned oil companies PetroChina and Sinopec have written to Saudi Aramco in recent weeks to express an interest in a direct deal, industry sources said.

The companies are understood to be part of a state-run consortium including China’s sovereign wealth fund.