Saudi Aramco oil giant has declared a significant decline in its second quarter profits this year amid falling oil prices and thinner margins in refining and chemicals.
The 38 percent year-on-year decline “mainly reflected the impact of lower crude oil prices and weakening refining and chemicals margins,” the world’s largest, state-owned oil company announced in a statement released Monday on the Saudi stock exchange.
“Our strong results reflect our resilience and ability to adapt through market cycles,” CEO Amin Nasser stated.
“We continue to demonstrate our long-standing ability to meet the needs of customers around the world with high levels of reliability,” he added.
For our shareholders, we intend to start distributing our first performance-linked dividend in the third quarter.” Aramco’s top executive further noted.
The decline followed a drop of 19.25 percent in the first quarter, according to the statement.
The Saudi Kingdom, which owes 90 percent of Aramco’s shares, announced in April that it would cut 500,000 barrels per day, as part of a coordinated effort with other oil-producing countries to reduce supply by over one million barrels per day in an attempt to avert declining oil prices.
In June, the Saudi energy ministry announced a further voluntary cut of one million barrels per day (bpd) which took effect in July and has been extended through September.
The Persian Gulf kingdom’s daily production now stands at approximately nine million bpd, far below its reported daily capacity of 12 million bpd.
Aramco reported record profits totaling $161.1 billion last year, allowing the kingdom to notch up its first annual budget surplus in nearly a decade.
Aramco reported record profits totaling $161.1 billion last year, allowing the kingdom to notch up its first annual budget surplus in nearly a decade.
In December 2019, the firm floated 1.7 percent of its shares on the Saudi bourse, generating $29.4 billion.11:45
The decline in profits for Saudi Aramco comes at a time when the global oil industry is grappling due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Russia.
