Aramco Acquires Peru’s Primax for $3.5 Billion?

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, has acquired Peruvian Conglomerate Grupo Rumero’s Primax, a major downstream fuel marketing and distribution company with operations in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador, in a $3.5 billion deal.

According to Peruvian financial newspaper Gestión, the deal marks another strategic move by the Saudi giant into the South American energy market. Primax operates 2,185 gas stations across the three South American nations. Primax expanded its operations through acquisitions that included Shell and Repsol’s assets in Ecuador, Pecsa’s assets in Peru, and ExxonMobil’s fuel business in Colombia.

The acquisition adds to Aramco’s growing footprint in Peru, where it indirectly holds a minority stake of 17.2% in Peru LNG, a liquefied natural gas plant located south of Lima. That stake was acquired in September 2024 from Hunt Oil Company.

According to reports in Peruvian media, Primax has been actively restructuring its assets, including selling off subsidiaries of Terpel in Peru and Ecuador last year in a $64 million deal. The company acquired 100% of Terpel Perú and Terpel Comercial Perú, as well as Terpel Comercial Ecuador, as part of its consolidation strategy.

The acquisition of Primax by Saudi Aramco is seen as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to expand its presence in key international markets.

Aramco’s Similar Deals

Aramco signed similar deals in the Philippines, Chile, Vietnam and Pakistan and has entered the South American market by purchasing a 100% equity stake in Esmax Distribusción SpA (“Esmax”) from Southern Cross Group, a Latin America-focused private equity company.

Esmax is a leading diversified downstream fuels and lubricants retailer in Chile. Its national presence includes retail fuel stations, airport operations, fuel distribution terminals and a lubricant blending plant.

In Pakistan, Saudi Aramco has acquired 40% stake in that country’s fuels retail market through a partnership with Gas & Oil Pakistan (GO), and launched its first branded gas station in Lahore in late 2024.

Aramco has also signed definitive agreements in February this year to acquire a 25% equity stake in Unioil Petroleum Philippines, one of the largest petroleum companies in the Philippines.

Unioil, a diversified downstream fuels operator established in 1966, is one of the fastest growing retail, wholesale and storage companies in the Philippines, with a network of 165 retail stations and four storage terminals in the country.

Aramco has also bought a 17% stake in Hyundai Oilbank from Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, for approximately $1.2 billion in South Korea through its subsidiary Aramco Overseas Company B.V. (AOC).