Saudi Aramco announces a record quarterly profit of $48.4bn

 

Saudi oil giant Aramco has broken its own record with a $48bn (£39.bn) profit for the second quarter of 2022, a 90 per cent increase and marks the biggest earnings for the world’s largest energy exporter since its public listing three years ago. Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered skyrocketing oil and gas prices. The Western nations have pledged to curb their dependence on Russia, one of the world’s largest exporters, for their energy needs.

The Saudi energy giant announced it would keep its dividend unchanged at $18.8 bn for the third quarter.

“While global market volatility and economic uncertainty remain, events during the first half of this year support our view that ongoing investment in our industry is essential both to help ensure markets remain well supplied and to facilitate an orderly energy transition. In fact, we expect oil demand to continue to grow for the rest of the decade, despite downward economic pressures on short-term global forecasts,” Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser said.

Oil prices were already rising before the Ukraine war as economies started to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and demand outstripped supply. The world’s biggest oil producers, including ExxonMobil, Chevon, and BP have all posted huge earnings this year – leading to growing calls on governments to impose a windfall tax amid an alarming rise in living costs.

In June, US President Joe Biden said Exxon had made “more money than God this year”.

Last Opec + agreed to raise production slightly in an effort to help ease high oil prices, Saudi Arabia being the largest single producer in Opec, with a market valuation at $2.42tn, has reclaimed the World’s most valuable company from the iPhone maker Apple for the first time in almost two years. Investors have been selling shares in technology firms as they move into what they see as less risky assets.  Shares in Apple fell by more than 5 per cent in New York on Wednesday to end the trading day with a stock market valuation of $2.37 trillion ( £1.94tn). Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies and digital assets have also continued to fall sharply.