Saudi Aramco postponed the first official step of its IPO last week – a planned 2% listing within Saudi Arabia. Now it’s an open question as to whether or not the offering will proceed on-schedule in November.

Circumstances in the lead-up to the IPO were covered in an article last week.

The major obstacle remains the valuation of the offering. As-is it wasn’t going to reach the $2 trillion valuation that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is seeking. The Saudi administration has been engaging in some extraordinary (read: coercive) pitches to the country’s wealthiest elites in the lead-up to last week’s deadline in an attempt to drum up demand from domestic investors.

The length of the delay is currently unknown. According to sources queried by the Financial Times, it may just be a matter of weeks. Incidentally, the delay coincides with the Saudi ‘Davos in the Desert’ conference, which is scheduled to be held in the final week of October. The event looks to be well-attended by US firms and politicians (Khashoggi who?), and the Aramco delay could be about sourcing foreign assistance ahead of the IPO – again, all in the service of that $2 trillion benchmark.