Saudi Arabia's Aramco brought in $30 billion in revenues in the second quarter, a 37.89% decline from the same period the previous year, which it attributed to lower crude oil prices.
Aramco's net profit fell to 112.81 billion riyals ($30.07 billion) for the quarter to June 30 from 181.64 billion riyals a year earlier, it said in a statement.
The group declared a base dividend of just over $19.51 billion for the second quarter, roughly in line with its payout for the first quarter.
It also said it will begin paying performance-linked dividends for six quarters, starting with a $9.87 billion payout in the third quarter.
Aramco President & CEO Amin H. Nasser said: “Our strong results reflect our resilience and ability to adapt through market cycles. We continue to demonstrate our long-standing ability to meet the needs of customers around the world with high levels of reliability. For our shareholders, we intend to start distributing our first performance-linked dividend in the third quarter.
“At Aramco, our mid to long-term view remains unchanged. With a recovery anticipated in the broader global economy, along with increased activity in the aviation sector, ongoing investments in energy projects will be necessary to safeguard energy security.”
He said Aramco is maintaining the largest capital spending program in its history, with the aim of increasing oil and gas production capacity and expanding its Downstream business — with petrochemicals projects, such as the $11 billion expansion of the SATORP refinery with TotalEnergies, essential to meet future demand.
He said he was also optimistic about the potential for new technologies to reduce Aramco’s operational emissions, and its recent blue ammonia shipments to Asia “highlight the growing market interest in the potential of alternative, lower-carbon energy solutions.”
