Saudi Arabia kick-started the much-anticipated initial public offering of its state-run oil behemoth, Saudi Aramco, on Sunday, giving investors the opportunity to own a slice of the world's most profitable company.

The firm's shares would be listed on Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange. Plans to launch the IPO overseas are yet to be discussed.

Describing it as a "significant milestone" in the history of the energy giant, Saudi Aramco said that the final offer price and the number of shares to be sold "will be determined at the end of the book-building period."

In a statement Aramco chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan said: "Today marks a significant milestone in the history of the company and important progress towards delivering Saudi Vision 2030, the kingdom's blueprint for sustained economic diversification and growth."

The Aramco IPO, promised by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in 2016, forms a critical part of the kingdom's Vision 2030 plan to diversify the economy and end its reliance on crude oil.

Bin Salman hopes that Aramco would achieve a two-trillion-dollar valuation, helping him to raise $100 billion which can be spent on development and job creation.

The Saudi Arabian economy has, lately, been buffeted by low oil prices, the U.S.-China trade war and increased crude production in the U.S.

A series of drone attacks by Yemen-based Houthi forces has also spooked investors.

On September 14, Aramco's Abqaiq oil facility and the Khurais oil field were targeted by unmanned suicide drones that led to huge fires and knocked out more than half the output of the world's largest oil exporter.

Saudi Aramco produces 10 million barrels of crude per day and provides almost 10 percent of global oil demand.

The company said in 2018 it had a net income of 111 billion U.S. dollars and proven liquid reserves of 226.8 billion barrels. Net income as of the end of the third-quarter in 2019 was 68 billion U.S. dollars.