HMM: With Aramco IPO approval, China cozies up to Saudis.

Now, as the royal family seeks to monetize its massive state-run oil company, Saudi Aramco, with an initial public offering that could value it near $2 trillion, Chinese banks are looking to play a key role in the IPO both by underwriting shares and purchasing the stock, people with direct knowledge of the matter tell FOX Business. A formal announcement on the IPO came Sunday.

“China spreads its resources around in a geopolitically strategic way,” said Charles Horner, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. “And the Chinese have a voracious appetite for oil, which makes a relationship with Saudi Arabia particularly important.”

An outside spokesman for the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund, declined comment. A spokesman at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment.

The Chinese government has been making a concerted effort to cozy up to the Saudis as the royal family seeks to modernize the nation and open itself to outside investment ahead of Saudi Aramco’s pending deal. In February of this year, bin Salman went to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to hammer out a trade deal with $28 billion in economic agreements. “The Silk Road initiative and China’s strategic orientation are very much in line with the kingdom’s Vision 2030,” bin Salman said in a statement about the two countries.

The more we frack, the less any of this intrigue matters.