RIYADH: Saudi Aramco said on Sunday it posted a “record” profit of $161.1 billion last year, prompting an angry response from activists warning of the ravages of climate change. .
The majority state-owned energy company, the world’s second-most valuable after Apple, said in a filing to the Saudi stock market that net income for 2022 is up 46 percent from $110 billion in 2021.
The results – the strongest since Aramco became a listed company in 2019 – were “primarily driven by the impact of higher crude oil prices and volumes sold, and stronger refining margins”.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, global energy prices rose.
“For a company to make more than $161 billion a year from the sale of fossil fuels is staggering,” said Agnes Callomard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International. Statement
“This is all the more shocking because the surplus was accumulated during a global cost crisis and helped by rising energy prices as a result of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Amnesty called Aramco’s profits “the largest ever disclosed by a company in one year” and said they “should be used to fund a human rights-based transition to renewable energy”. .
Risks of underinvestment
Aramco’s gains are in line with record 2022 profits reported by the five oil giants Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP and Total Energy, which collectively exceeded $150 billion, and Russia would have been closer to $200 billion without costly withdrawals from
“Aramco rode the wave of higher energy prices in 2022. That’s what the company is poised to do,” said Robert Mogilnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “It would have been difficult for Aramco not to perform strongly in 2022.”
Saudi Arabia has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2060, drawing skepticism from environmental campaigners.
Officials are simultaneously supporting more investment in fossil fuels to ensure energy security and prevent inflation and other economic problems.
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said on Sunday, “Given that we expect oil and gas to remain essential for the foreseeable future, the risks of underinvestment in our industry are real – including high energy costs.” contribution to prices,” Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said on Sunday.
Aramco has committed to achieving “operational net-zero” carbon emissions by 2050.
It applies to emissions produced directly by Aramco’s industrial sites, but not the CO2 produced when clients burn Saudi oil in their cars, power plants and furnaces.
Growth driver
The company’s annual net income figure is nearly double the firm’s $88.2 billion in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.
The gains fueled overall economic growth in Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, which officials pegged at 8.7 percent in 2022, the highest rate among the G20.
Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Saudi Arabia has sought to open up and diversify its oil-dependent economy, investing heavily in future megacity projects known as NEOM. What has been spent?
According to data published by the National Statistics Authority on Thursday, the authorities have claimed growth in non-oil activities, which increased by 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.
Justin Alexander, director of consultancy Gulf Economics, said government spending was nevertheless “a big driver of this growth” and that it “will always be linked to some degree of oil revenue”.
Energy prices are expected to remain high in 2023, in part because of production cuts approved by OPEC+ last October that Riyadh co-operates with Moscow – a move strongly criticized by Washington. .
Aramco’s facilities have been hit by drone and missile attacks in the past claimed by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, most recently about a year ago. But a surprise deal announced Friday to restore diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Tehran, severed in 2016, could ease the threat in the coming months.
Aramco floated 1.7% of its shares on the Saudi market in December 2019, raising $29.4 billion in the world’s largest initial public offering.
