Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, Aramco, announced on Sunday a 24.7% decline in its profits for 2023, attributing the contraction to falling crude oil prices and production cuts.
Aramco's headquarters in Riyadh in the King Abdullah Financial District © Mena Today
Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, Aramco, announced on Sunday a 24.7% decline in its profits for 2023, attributing the contraction to falling crude oil prices and production cuts.
Aramco, a flagship of the Saudi economy, stated in a press release that its profits reached 454.7 billion Saudi riyals (approximately $121.25 billion) in 2023, compared to a record of 604.01 billion riyals (approximately $161.07 billion) the previous year.
"The decrease primarily reflects the impact of declining crude oil prices and weakening margins for refining and chemicals," Aramco stated in the release.
Like other giants in the sector, Aramco had achieved record profits last year as oil prices soared to $130 per barrel due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the post-Covid economic recovery. However, oil prices fell to $85 per barrel last year, weighed down by the risk of global recession, which affects demand outlooks.
Nevertheless, Aramco recorded its "second-highest historical profits" in 2023, noted Aramco's CEO, Amin Nasser, announcing a 30% increase in dividends to shareholders compared to the previous year.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday, but the United States held back from launching air strikes on Iran itself for the first night in two weeks.
Yemen is edging towards the resumption of a more than decade-old frozen conflict, Yemeni officials, Western diplomats and analysts say, as attacks on Saudi infrastructure and shipping by Iran-aligned Houthis test the patience of the kingdom and the Yemeni government forces it backs.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that a civilian nuclear cooperation deal signed with Saudi Arabia a day earlier is "totally subject" to the kingdom normalizing relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords, adding a significant condition that was not part of the original agreement as announced.
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