- wording
- BBC News World
5 hours
image source, Archyde.com
Due to its light crude, Saudi Arabia is one of the countries with the greatest capacity to rapidly increase oil production.
If it were a country, it would occupy position 88 in the World Bank list that classifies 207 states in the world according to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Specifically, it would be located between the Democratic Republic of the Congo ($53.9 billion) and Tunisia ($46.8 billion).
And it is that Saudi Aramco, the state oil company of Saudi Arabia, has just broken its own record by obtaining as gains of US$48.4 billion during the second quarter of 2022. . . . That figure is higher than the GDP of countries like Bolivia, Paraguay, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti or Nicaragua.
That’s a 90% increase from a year earlier and represents the biggest profit made by the world’s top energy exporter since it went public three years ago.
Its profits are higher than the GDP of more than half of the countries in the world.
war and lawsuit
Central to Saudi Aramco’s rising profits has been Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has sent world oil and gas prices skyrocketing.
Russia is one of the largest exporters of these fuels, but The United States and many European governments have pledged to reduce their dependence on Russian hydrocarbons. due to war.
According to Bloomberg, the results obtained by the Saudi company represent “the largest quarterly profit” obtained by a company that is listed on the stock exchange.
Saudi Aramco announced that it will make no changes to its dividend, which will remain at US$18.8 billion for the third quarter.
image source, Archyde.com
Saudi Arabia is OPEC’s largest producer.
The company said it would continue to increase production to meet demand.
“While global market volatility and economic uncertainty remain, events during the first half of this year support our view that continued investment in our industry is essential, both to help ensure markets remain well supplied and to facilitate an orderly energy transition,” said Aramco Chairman and CEO Amin Nasser.
“In fact, we expect oil demand to continue to grow for the rest of the decadedespite easing economic pressures according to near-term global forecasts,” it added.
Oil prices had already been on the rise before the war in Ukraine, thanks to the recovery of economies following the impact of the covid-19 pandemic and the fact that demand was outstripping supply.
Major oil producers, including ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP, have reported huge profits this year, leading to calls around the world for governments to impose an extraordinary tax to deal with an alarming increase in the cost of living.
In June, US President Joe Biden said that Exxon had made “more money than God this year.”
Saudi Arabia is the largest crude producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC+, a group that brings together OPEC members along with other major producers such as Russia, agreed last week to slightly increase output in an effort to help ease high oil prices. However, the latest increase in production is at a much slower pace than in recent months.
The decision dealt a blow to world leaders who, like Biden, have called for production to be stepped up.
Now you can receive notifications from BBC World. Download the new version of our app and activate it so you don’t miss out on our best content.