China has offered to buy up to 5 percent of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Saudi Aramco directly, according to a report from London-based news agency Reuters

Chinese state-owned oil companies PetroChina and Sinopec are reported to have written to Saudi Aramco to express interest in a direct deal as part of a state-run consortium including China's sovereign wealth fund.

The report follows earlier reports by the London-based Financial Times that said the company was considering shelving plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in favour of a private placement of shares. Aramco has dismissed that report as speculative.

Saudi Aramco said on 15 October that its plans to launch a public offering of shares in 2018 remain on track. A company spokesman said: “A range of options for the public listing of Saudi Aramco, continues to be held under active review… No decision has been made and the IPO process remains on track.”

On 5 October, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih, speaking at an energy forum in Moscow, said that Aramco will have its IPO in the second half of 2018.

Saudi Aramco has yet to select an international venue for the proposed IPO that was first announced in January 2016.

New York and London are understood to be the two favoured markets on which to list, in addition to the Tadawul.

The IPO of up to 5 per cent of Saudi Aramco is an integral part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic reform programme and National Transformation Plan (NTP).

If Riyadh’s suggested $2 trillion valuation of Aramco is met, the IPO would raise up to $100bn for the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF).