Saudi Aramco reported its highest quarterly gains from listing its shares in 2019, as the world’s largest oil exporter took advantage of rising crude oil prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The net income of the state-backed group rose to $ 39.5 billion in the first three months of the year, up 82 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Record profits exceeded the average estimates of analysts compiled by the company of 38.5 billion dollars and had grown from 30.4 billion dollars in the last three months of 2021.
The Saudi oil company and its international competitors, such as BP, Shell and ExxonMobil, have benefited from the disruption in global energy flows caused by the war in Ukraine, which has raised oil, gas and refining prices.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, hit a 14-year high of $ 139 a barrel in March and is now trading at about $ 110 a barrel, about two-thirds higher than it was a year ago.
Aramco, which overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company last week, said the results were supported by higher crude oil prices and sales volumes, along with improved refining margins.
The group’s total production, including gas, rose to 13 million barrels per day of oil equivalent, compared to an average of 12.3 million in 2021, as Saudi Arabia and other members of the OPEC producer group overturned production cuts introduced earlier in the year. the coronavirus pandemic.
“Energy security is vital and we are investing in the long term, expanding our oil and gas production capacity to meet expected growth,” said Aramco CEO Amin Nasser.
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Saudi Aramco’s capital expenditures for the first quarter were $ 7.6 billion. The state-backed group said it expects capital expenditures of $ 40-50 billion in 2022 from $ 31.9 billion last year, with further growth expected by around the middle of the decade.
Unlike its international counterparts, many of whom have pledged to gradually reduce oil production to reduce emissions, Saudi Aramco is in the process of increasing its maximum crude production capacity from 12 million barrels per day to 13 million barrels. per day.
It also wants to increase natural gas production by 50 percent by 2030. The company said on Sunday it would complete the Hawiyah and Haradh gas projects by the end of the year, which represents another 1.3 billion cubic feet of production capacity per day.
Saudi Aramco added that it is expanding international operations down the chain. He highlighted January’s acquisition of a 30% stake in a refinery in Poland and a new joint venture with BP to supply jet fuel in the country. The Saudi group has also agreed to invest in a 300.00 barrel a day refinery and petrochemical project in China, it said.
The company maintained its dividend, one of the largest payouts in the world, pledging to return another $ 18.8 billion to shareholders in the second quarter. The payment is a vital source of revenue for the Saudi government, which still directly owns 94% of Saudi Aramco’s shares. He registered just under 2% of the company’s shares in December 2019 and transferred another 4% to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund this year.
Shares of Saudi Aramco, which are listed in Riyadh, rose more than 27% this year.
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