Saudi Aramco does not publicly release information about earnings or the taxes and royalties it pays the government and others. Specialists say commodity prices and sales will determine profits and payments to shareholders, including the government and the royal family, with dividends taking the place of the higher taxes. The Saudis hope that new investment through the share offering will result in a bit of growth that will increase profits.

Saudi Aramco’s ability to provide financing for the government has been sharply reduced in the last three years as world oil prices have collapsed. Even after cuts in subsidies and social programs, this year’s government budget deficit is expected to be $53 billion. The Fitch Ratings agency this month downgraded the country’s sovereign credit rating for the second time in a year, and foreign reserves are in worrisome decline.

Nevertheless, the taxation announcement was another sign that the initial public offering, which has been slow to get off the ground, may be gaining momentum. King Salman recently completed a three-week tour of Asia in which he advanced Saudi Aramco’s campaign to become a major refining and petrochemical power in China, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia. Mounting joint investments with some of Saudi Aramco’s biggest customers should increase the value of Saudi Aramco to investors in the future, energy specialists said.

Saudi Aramco recently agreed to pay Royal Dutch Shell $2.2 billion in an arrangement splitting their United States refining and marketing business, Motiva Enterprises. That deal will put the refinery in Port Arthur, Tex. — the largest in the United States — totally under Saudi Aramco control. That should allow Saudi Arabia to expand, or at least stabilize, oil exports to the United States, which have been declining as American domestic production increases.

Energy specialists warn that the offering still faces hurdles. Saudi Aramco will need to be far more transparent to meet Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure requirements to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and members of the royal family may resist having shareholders from Western countries.

Failure to attract a large sum of capital for the offering would be deeply embarrassing to King Salman and his favorite son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is pushing the privatization as part of a sweeping reorganization of the national economy.