Saudi Aramco profit slumps 44% after Covid-battered year, but maintains dividend

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A employee at an oil processing facility of Saudi Aramco, a Saudi Arabian state-owned oil and fuel firm, on the Abqaiq oil area.

Stanislav Krasilnikov | TASS | Getty Images

Oil big Saudi Aramco reported a 44% stoop in full-year 2020 outcomes, but maintained its $75 billion greenback dividend payout, with CEO Amin Nasser describing the final twelve months as one of the “difficult years” in latest historical past. 

Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s behemoth state oil agency, reported web revenue of $49 billion in 2020, down from $88.19 billion in 2019. The consequence was barely under analysts expectations of $48.1 billion but nonetheless represents the best of any public firm globally. 

“In one of the difficult years in latest historical past, Aramco demonstrated its distinctive worth proposition by way of its appreciable monetary and operational agility,” Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser mentioned in firm assertion Sunday.

Aramco mentioned revenues had been impacted by decrease crude oil costs and volumes offered, and weakened refining and chemical substances margins. 

The agency additionally mentioned it expects to chop capital expenditure within the 12 months forward, and lowered its steerage for spending to round $35 billion from a variety of $40 billion to $45 billion beforehand. 

Free money circulation slumped nearly 40% to $49 billion, effectively under the extent of its hotly anticipated dividend. Aramco additionally declared a payout of $75 billion for 2020, regardless of concern that it will tackle extra debt to keep up it.

“Looking forward, our long-term technique to optimize our oil and fuel portfolio is on monitor and, because the macro setting improves, we’re seeing a pick-up in demand in Asia and in addition optimistic indicators elsewhere,” he added.

Shares within the prime western oil and fuel firms together with Royal Dutch Shell and BP dropped to multi-year lows in 2020, because the coronavirus pandemic wrecked havoc throughout the worldwide economic system and sparked a historic collapse within the worth of oil. Exxon Mobil, the biggest U.S. vitality firm, posted its first annual loss.



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