The Saudi Aramco petroleum producer reported a drop in net profit on Tuesday to $ 106.2 billion in 2024, compared to $ 121.3 billion in 2023.
The company said it expects total dividends for $ 85.4 billion – a significant drop in the total of $ 2024.2 billion.
This occurs because he reduced his total payment for the fourth quarter. The oil giant has said that its basic dividend for the last three months of the year would be increased to $ 21.1 billion, but that its performance related to only $ 200 million. This is compared to a basic dividend in the third quarter of $ 20.3 billion and a dividend linked to the performance of $ 10.8 billion.
The drop in oil prices reached the company’s net profit last year, raw production around the world and demand has slowed down. The price of oil made from AMARCO – The final price that the company receives for having sold its gross after having taken into account transport costs and other factors – fell to $ 80.2 in a barrel in 2024, compared to $ 83.6 in the previous year.
Aramco’s revenues fell to $ 436.6 billion in 2024, compared to $ 440.8 billion the previous year.
Total annual loans from the company increased, increased to $ 319.3 billion in 2024, compared to 290.1 billion dollars in the previous year. However, the company’s net debt increased from $ 102.8 billion in 2023 to $ 78 billion in 2024.
Aramco’s dividend, the highest in the world, has played a key role in strengthening the boxes of the state of Saudi Arabia. The announced decline will reach the kingdom’s budgetary deficit, which has widened in the midst of the lower oil prices of oil and higher state expenditure on the megaprojects planned for the 2030 vision, the economic transformation campaign of the Saudi heiress Mohammed Mohammed Bin Salman.
The oil refinery and the oil terminal of Ras Tanura de Saudi Aramco
Ahmed Jadallah | Reuters
Dan Murphy de CNBC as investors can expect to wait – in particular given the drop in profits and dividends – the CEO of Aramco, Amin Nasser, underlined business investments in downstream production and gas as sources of force and increased income.
Nasser said that 2024 was “not a good year on a global scale”, in particular for downstream production, but added: “If you look in the future, with the operating cash flows, because of our investment which started a few years ago, the wider investment in gas and downstream, we expect an additional cash flow that will come from these investments for around 17 to 20 billion dollars By 2030, from the downstream engagement. “.
The CEO also said that it expected an increase in OPEC + Producer Alliance gross production to be deployed over the next 18 months, which should benefit to Aramco, and reported the company’s capacity to add large quantities of oil to the market in the event of supply disturbances.
“Upstream, we see what happened in 2022 [following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine] -Whenever there is an additional demand or interruption or any geopolitical event, and it is necessary to increase production, we have the capacity to put 3 million barrels on the market, easily available, and it is important, “he said.”[If] It is necessary to put it on the market which will also give you a huge advantage. “”
