The launch this month of the initial public offering of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco -- the world's most profitable business -- has focused the attention of not only the global investment community but also its crude-oil customers.
Nowhere is that scrutiny higher than in Asia, which absorbs more than two-thirds of Aramco's crude exports. Asia's top four oil-consuming countries -- China, India, Japan and South Korea -- are heavily reliant on supplies from Aramco, which has a monopoly on crude production in the kingdom.
