The national oil company of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco, announced on Sunday that it made a net income of $39.5 billion for the first quarter of 2022. This figure represents an increase of approximately 80 percent when compared to the same period a year earlier, which is primarily attributable to higher oil prices.
As a result of tighter market circumstances caused by the pandemic’s easing effects, prices for oil and natural gas have skyrocketed during the last several months. Sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine at the end of February have led to a decrease in oil production there, heightening concerns about the possibility of shortages.
The whole scenario is working to Saudi Aramco’s advantage, since the company is seeing increased profits despite the rising cost of energy. Oil prices have almost doubled over the last year, with Brent crude reaching $111 per barrel on Friday, up from about $60 per barrel in the spring of 2021.
In contrast to its Western counterparts such as Shell and Exxon Mobil, which are subject to pressure from their shareholders to address the issue of global warming, the Saudi company is almost entirely owned by the government and is therefore under much less pressure to reduce its output as well as its emissions of carbon dioxide.
In point of fact, Saudi Aramco and ADNOC, the national oil corporation of Abu Dhabi, believe that they are in a position to benefit from the pressure that is being placed on Western businesses.
“Against the background of increasing volatility in global markets, we remain focused on helping satisfy the world’s need for energy,” Amin H. Nasser, the chief executive of Aramco, said in a statement on Sunday that was released on the company’s website.
Mr. Nasser continued by saying, “We are investing for the long term, boosting our oil and gas production capacity to meet projected demand increases.”
In spite of this, Saudi Arabia has largely disregarded requests from the United States government to accelerate a programme of gradual production increases that was agreed upon with OPEC and other oil producers during the summer of 2017. The rise in the price of gasoline has contributed to an increase in inflation.
The corporation said that it will maintain its dividend for the quarter at its previous level of $18.8 billion. The government, which controls virtually all of the business’s shares and was listed on the Saudi Tadawul market in 2019, would get the majority of the funds from the sale of the company.
In accordance with what was previously disclosed, Aramco will give out one bonus share for every ten regular shares.
