Saudi Arabian Oil Co. has held talks with banks about selling Islamic bonds for the first time, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Saudi Aramco, as the company is known, discussed setting up a program that could include several shariah-compliant bond sales over the next few years, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. No banks have been appointed and the size of the sale hasn’t been determined, they said. The state-owned company is maintaining investments in oil and gas projects amid the fall in prices, Chairman Khalid Al- Falih said at a conference last week in Riyadh, and is also studying options including the sale of shares in the parent company or its downstream operations, he said. The oil producer recently held talks with banks to raise USD4.7 billion to refinance an oil refinery it developed with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., people told Bloomberg in December, and last year also borrowed USD10 billion, four people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.  A Saudi Aramco Islamic bond issue would be a first for the company. The closest it has come in the past to selling debt is a SAR3.75 billion (USD1 billion) sukuk issued by Saudi Aramco Total Refining & Petrochemical Co., a joint venture with France’s Total SA known as Satorp. (Bloomberg)