Saudi Aramco announced a rise on Tuesday in the third-quarter profit by 0.9 percent, due to an increase in production despite the already strained oil prices.
The following are the third-quarter results of Aramco in comparison with LSEG consensus estimates: Adjusted net income: 104.92 billion Saudi riyals ($27.98 billion) in comparison to 98.47 billion Saudi riyals.
Therefore, the Revenue is 418.16 billion in comparison to 411.26 billion Saudi riyals.
The President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, Amin Hassan Nasser, said that “We increased production with minimal incremental cost, and reliably supplied the oil, gas, and associated products our customers depend on, driving strong financial performance and quarterly earnings growth.”
The largest oil company in the world reported a free cash flow of $23.6 billion in comparison with $22 billion a year ago.
The board also announced the 2025 base dividend of $21.1 billion and performance-exploratory dividend of $0.2 billion to be paid in the fourth quarter.
The findings are received when Aramco is struggling to make a profit at lower oil prices, which stand at more than 6 percent this year until September, except in the second quarter when there is a temporary spike due to the Israel-Iran tensions.
FactSet data indicated that the year-to-date spot prices of the U.S. West Texas Intermediate have decreased over 16 percent. Therefore, the global benchmark Brent has fallen by over 12 percent.
On the weekend, OPEC+ have announced a slight rise in oil production in December and had resolved to stop additional increases on the first quarter of the next year.
The members of the cartel agreed to increase its production goal to 137,000 barrels per day in December, as it had been increased earlier in October and November.
Since April, OPEC+ has increased its production targets by about 2.9 million barrels per day; however, it has since started reducing the rate at which these increases are achieved in October due to a market surplus.
To make things complicated, new Western sanctions against Russia, which is the major member of the group are giving the group a hard time in its production plans, as Moscow is restricted to increase its production levels when the U.S imposed some more restrictions to the production of the major oil producers in the country Rosneft and Lukoil, which are the main players in the group.
According to Reuters, Aramco has lately acquired a 22.5 percent stake in Petro Rabigh from Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical at a cost of $701.8 million, resulting in a total of about 60 percent ownership by the Saudi firm.
Another recent acquisition made by the oil giant was a minority stake in HUMAIN, an artificial intelligence company that is majority owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
Nasser further exclaimed that the stake that the company has in HUMAIN will continue to promote innovation and progress its presence in the “crucial and rapidly evolving AI sector.”
