Signage of Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO) is seen during a news conference by the state oil company at the Plaza Conference Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia November 3, 2019.



Saudi Aramco will sell up to 0.5% of its shares to individual investors in what could be the largest initial public offering in history.

The world's biggest oil company released a prospectus Saturday, providing further information but without revealing the precise size of its planned share offering.

Saudi Aramco said the process begins Nov. 17 and closes Dec. 4. A final offer price, as well as the number and percentage of company shares that will be sold, will be determined at the end of that period.

The prospectus says individual investors will have until Nov. 28 to request shares, noting that "up to 0.5%" of the company's shares will be allocated to individual investors.

Saudi Aramco confirmed plans to pay annual, aggregate cash dividends of at least $75 billion starting in calendar year 2020, in addition to any special dividends.

However, investors can't yet gauge the value of those dividends' yield relative to other companies until they can clearly assess the valuation of Saudi Aramco and its shares. Dividend investors are attracted to steady returns, and they try to put their money into stocks with the best yields.

Exxon Mobil shares have a dividend yield of 4.92%, based on their Friday closing price of $70.77 per share. Chevron's yield stands at 3.94%, and BP comes in at 6.28%.