A worker at an oil processing facility at Saudi Aramco, a state-owned oil and gas company in Saudi Arabia, in the Abqaiq oil field.
Stanislav Krasilnikov | TASS | Getty Images
Oil giant Saudi Aramco reported a 44% drop in results for the full year 2020, but maintained its $ 75 billion dividend payout, with CEO Amin Nasser describing the past twelve months as one of the most “challenging years” “of recent history.
Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant in Saudi Arabia, reported a net profit of $ 49 billion in 2020, down from $ 88.19 billion in 2019. The result was slightly below analysts’ expectations of $ 48.1 billion , but it still represents the largest of any public company globally.
“In one of the most challenging years in recent history, Aramco demonstrated its unique value proposition through its considerable financial and operational agility,” Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said in a company statement on Sunday.
Aramco said revenues were impacted by lower crude oil prices and volumes sold, and weaker refining and chemical margins.
The company also said it expects to cut capital expenditures next year and has reduced its projected spending to about $ 35 billion, from a range of $ 40 billion to $ 45 billion previously.
Free cash flow fell by almost 40%, to $ 49 billion, well below the level of its highly anticipated dividends. Aramco also declared a payment of $ 75 billion for 2020, despite concerns that it would take on additional debt to maintain it.
“Looking ahead, our long-term strategy to optimize our oil and gas portfolio is on track and, as the macro environment improves, we see a recovery in demand in Asia and also positive signs elsewhere,” he added.
Shares in major Western oil and gas companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and BP fell to multi-year lows in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic destroyed the global economy and generated a historic collapse in the price of oil. Exxon Mobil, the largest energy company in the United States, recorded its first annual loss.