DUBAI, Dec 14 Reuters Saudi oil giant Aramco is boosting its big data and artificial intelligence unit that links up its assets to help maximise profit, assisting on decisions from trading to acquisitions, a senior executive told Reuters.

We have 70 people working on this, we39;re still adding more, Yasser Mufti, Aramco39;s executive vice president for products and customers, said in an interview offering rare insight into its operations.

Once the realm of international oil companies, the unit called Global Optimizer was set up as a department under its downstream business in 2022 and stems from an overhaul that the state oil giant began in 2021.

With the broader revamp, Aramco aims to make investments that better reflect the company39;s sprawling footprint and to respond to market changes faster. Aramco also has assetspecific reviews underway to boost returns.

Aramco is continuing to explore potential deals such as the purchase this week of a stake in retail business Gas Oil Pakistan, as well as refineries in Asia, Mufti said, without giving further details.

Aramco is in talks to buy a stake in Shandong Yulong Petrochemical, following a string of investments in Chinese refineries, bought a stake in liquefied natural gas company MidOcean Energy part of a bigger push into gas and listed shares of its base oil unit Luberef, with other share sales also reportedly planned.

More sophisticated commercial models like the Global Optimizer can translate to 1.52 per…