Australia's Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman said the massive sale of shares in oil giant Saudi Aramco would absorb liquidity from rival energy companies as investors will reallocate funds in their shrinking fossil fuel stocks.

Peter Coleman said the challenges of Aramco's IPO had become an important issue for discussion among investment bankers as the kingdom revived the idea of ​​all up to $ 100 billion by listing shares of the national energy giant.

"What investment alternative do you have? Is it US Treasury bonds or medium (oil and gas) companies in the United States?" He told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Energy Conference in Abu Dhabi.

"Investors who buy bonds and equities have a mandate to invest in certain sectors," said Coleman, who heads Australia's largest independent oil and gas company. "In fact, this mandate will not change quickly and in the energy sector it will shrink rather than grow."

"If you have a container of this size and suddenly Aramco has attracted a large part of it, it will have an impact," he said, adding that much would depend on the size of Aramco's IPO.

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Meanwhile, Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said Tuesday that the oil giant is ready to put its shares on the international markets to complete a planned initial public offering.

"Domestic listing will be a preliminary listing, but we are ready to list abroad in other areas," he said.

Speaking to reporters, Amin al-Nasser quoted Saudi Arabia's new energy minister, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, as saying the IPO would take place "very soon", but added that the final decision on its timing and location was in the hands of the Saudi government.

Saudi Arabia, which has long planned a global IPO for Aramco, is now planning a gradual listing of the world's largest oil producer in its domestic market, informed sources said on Monday.

The IPO is planned for 2020-2021, but may be by the end of this year.

Last month, Aramco's board concluded that listing in New York would pose significant legal risks, sources told Reuters.

The New York Stock Exchange is a favorite of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who had hoped Aramco would be worth $ 2 trillion, before freezing plans for the IPO last year, the sources said.

The proposal, which could become the world's largest, is important to fund Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plans to diversify the Saudi economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenues.