Andrew Harnik/AP

Former Trump official Dina Powell has helped put Goldman Sachs in contention for a role in Saudi Aramco's IPO, according to the Financial Times.

The former deputy national security adviser is part of a team working to win the bank an advisory role in the stock-market debut of the world's biggest oil company.

Goldman was snubbed during Aramco's previous IPO attempt in 2017.

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Former Trump official Dina Powell has helped put Goldman Sachs in contention for a role in Saudi Aramco's IPO, according to the Financial Times.

The ex-deputy national security adviser is part of a team working to win the bank an advisory role in the stock-market debut of the world's biggest oil company.

Powell — who was born in Egypt and speaks Arabic — boasts regional knowledge and relationships that have made her a critical player in negotiations. She used those assets to organize Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017, his first foreign trip as president.

Goldman was snubbed in favor of rivals such as JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley during Saudi Aramco's last attempt at an IPO in 2017. The planned listing was shelved after the state-owned company failed to achieve the $2 trillion valuation desired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi Aramco also came under scrutiny after Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated by Saudi agents in 2018.

Goldman should have plenty of time to curry favor with the Saudi giant. Given the mounting signs of a global economic slowdown, the group's public debut is likely to take place in 2020 or 2021.

In the meantime, the company will have its hands full as it seeks to double its prodcution capacity to 10 million barrels a day by 2030. It launched a $12 billion international bond earlier this year, and recently struck a $15 billion deal with Indian conglomerate Reliance to buy a stake in the world's largest refinery.

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