Aramco did see a drop in profits last year but still managed to increase dividends by 30%
Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco boosted its dividend despite net profit falling 24.7 percent to USD121.3 billion (roughly RM575,083,300,000) in 2023 on lower oil prices and volumes, showing the state’s continued reliance on oil revenue as it seeks to diversify.
The profit, down from USD161.1 billion (about RM763,775,100,000) in 2022, was still the company’s second-highest on record, Aramco said on Sunday as it reported total dividends for the year of USD97.8 billion (around RM463,669,800,000), up 30 percent. Oil revenues made up 62 percent of total state revenues last year.
Moreover, the Saudi government, which directly holds about 82.2 percent of Aramco, relies heavily on the oil giant’s generous payouts, which also include royalties and taxes. The world’s top oil exporter is spending billions of dollars trying to diversify its economy and find alternative sources of wealth having relied on oil for decades.
“Our balance sheet remains strong, even after our significant growth programme and dividend payouts,” Chief Executive Amin Nasser said. Nasser expects global oil demand for 2024 at 104 million barrels a day, up from an average of 102.4 million barrels in 2023.
The state’s ambitious economic agenda, known as Vision 2030, is also spearheaded by the sovereign Public Investment Fund, which owns 16 percent of Aramco, after a fresh transfer by the government of 8 percent to companies PIF owns last week. Aramco declared a base dividend, paid regardless of results, of USD20.3 billion (roughly RM96.2 billion) for the fourth quarter.
On top of that, it expects to pay out USD43.1 billion (about RM204,337,100,000) in performance-linked dividends this year, including USD10.8 billion (approximately RM51,202,800,000) to be paid out in the first quarter. The base dividend was increased 4 percent year on year, and the performance-linked dividend was about 9 percent higher.
The company said capital investments were at USD49.7 billion (roughly RM235,627,700,000) in 2023, up from USD38.8 billion (around RM183,950,800,000) in 2022. It forecast capital investments between USD48 billion (about RM227,568,000,000) and USD58 billion (approximately RM274,978,000,000) this year, growing until the middle of the decade.
We got all this from Reuters and their full article is linked here. Thank you Reuters for the information and images.
