Saudi Aramco has made new appointments during a meeting of its board of directors, sources told Bloomberg. They said the board approved for Khalid al-Dabbagh to become senior vice president for finance, taking over from Abdallah al-Saadan, who is now chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. The board also appointed Motassim al-Maashouq to the post of president of treasury, the sources told Bloomberg. However, it did not say if al-Maashouq will keep his post of vice president of IPO development in Aramco. The appointed Aramco officials will take over their new positions starting September, the sources said. The new appointments come at an important stage for Aramco, which said last month that it is looking to buy a stake in petrochemical maker Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). Aramco is weighing tapping the international bond market for the first time to finance the acquisition of SABIC, people familiar with the talks told Bloomberg in July. The bond is likely to be combined with bank loans, it said. The move into global capital markets could offer an alternative to an initial public offering, it added. In another development, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said Thursday that Saudi Arabia has a "firm and long-standing policy" that petroleum supplies are not influenced by political considerations. "The current diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia and Canada will not, in any way, impact Saudi Aramcos relations with its customers in Canada," he said in a statement. Canadian analysts have said that the country imports from Saudi Arabia 75,000-85,000 barrels of oil per day.