Dubai: The Saudi oil giant Aramco recorded a net income of $11.8 billion between July and end September, while confirming that it will be paying another $18.75 billion as third quarter dividends.
This represents a 44.6 per cent drop from a year ago, dented by lower crude oil prices and volumes sold as the coronavirus crisis choked demand, according to Reuters. Weaker refining and chemicals margins also hit the company's net profit.
But the company says the third quarter still offered some positives. “We saw early signs of a recovery in the third quarter due to improved economic activity, despite the headwinds facing global energy markets," said Amin H. Nasser, Aramco President and CEO. "Aramco’s integration with SABIC is proceeding as planned.
"Our resilience is supported by our unique scale, low upstream carbon intensity and low production costs. As the global economic and social landscape evolves, these strengths and our continued drive to lower GHG emissions mean we are well positioned to support the energy needs of the global economic recovery."
Total hydrocarbon production for the first nine months of 2020 was 12.4 million barrels per day of oil equivalent, of which 9.2 million barrels per day was crude oil. Third quarter capital expenditure was $6.4 billion.
“We are making progress on multiple fronts, including the world’s first blue ammonia shipment for zero-carbon power generation in Japan – further strengthening our focus on new and innovative solutions that contribute to the global energy transition,” the CEO added. “We continue to adopt a disciplined and flexible approach to capital allocation in the face of market volatility. We are confident in Aramco’s ability to manage through these challenging times and deliver on our objectives.
