Saudi officials considering delaying IPO after drone attack: WSJ

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia officials are discussing delaying Aramco's initial public offering as attacks on the company's oil facilities have drastically reduced their output, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company is expected to move forward with presentations to analysts and meetings with bankers as planned. However, Saudi energy officials and Aramco executives are debating a rescheduling of the IPO until after the company fully restores its production to normal levels.

Discussions of a change in the offering's timing have been confined to Saudi officials and Aramco executives, the report said.

Yemen's Houthi Group on Saturday claimed responsibility for the drone attacks on two Aramco's plants.

Aramco had planned to list 1% shares of the state oil plant on the Riyadh stock exchange before the end of this year and another 1% in 2020, Reuters reported last week.

Based on the indicated $2 trillion valuation that Saudi Aramco had hoped to achieve, a 1% float would be worth $20 billion.

(Reporting by Abhishek Manikandan in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)