Oil giant Saudi Aramco has gained unconditional EU antitrust approval for its $69 billion bid for a 70% stake in petrochemicals group Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), according to an EU filing.

Aramco announced the deal to acquire the controlling stake from sovereign investor Public Investment Fund (PIF) in March last year, a move key to its diversification into refining and petrochemicals.

The European Commission cleared the deal, a filing on its site showed. Recently, Reuters reported that the deal was heading for unconditional EU clearance.

Aramco's downstream expansion strategy tracks rivals such as Exxon Mobil, BP, Total and Shell, which have over the years transformed themselves from merely oil companies to energy companies with extensive upstream and downstream operations.