Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) buying a 20 per cent stake in Reliance Industries' oil-to-chemical business will assist it recapture the position of being the biggest supplier of oil to the world's fastest-growing oil market.

Saudi Arabia, which generally has been India's top oil source, lost its position to Iraq during the last two financial years.

This will change with Aramco taking over 20 per cent stake in the RIL's oil-to-chemical (O2C) business, which has an enterprise valuation of USD 75 billion as it will be followed with a deal to supply 500,000 barrels per day or 25 million tonne a year of crude oil.

"Crude supplies of 500,000 b/d represents about 40 per cent of Reliance's crude intake, significantly greater than the stake taken, although Saudi Aramco historically supplied 20 per cent of Reliance's crude oil necessities," said Alan Gelder, vice president refining and chemicals at Wood Mackenzie.

As per the data sourced from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Saudi Arabia in 2018-19 fiscal exported 40.33 million tonne of crude oil to India, over 15 per cent short of 46.61 million tonne sold by Iraq.

Saudi Arabia, India, oil supplier spot, Reliance deal, Reliance digital, Reliance share,The O2C business includes Reliance's refining and petrochemical divisions, and its 51 per cent stake in its fuel marketing business. The remaining 49 per cent stake in the fuel marketing business, which includes 1,400 petrol pumps and aviation fuel facilities at 31 airports, has been sold to BP for Rs 7,000 crore.