The oil giant Saudi Aramco announced that the curbed demand for oil globally, it’s profits have fallen sharply. The lesser demand for oil is due to the pandemic that hit globally last year.
Compared to the year 2019, the company’s earnings have fallen by nearly 45 per cent.
Although the company has still managed to earn a profit of around $49 billion (£35 billion). Additionally, and said that the sharers would get dividends equaling $75 billion. Saudi Aramco is one of the largest companies throughout the globe.
The largest shareholder of Aramco is the Saudi government itself.
However, the company said that this had been the most challenging year in recent history.
Over the course of last year, the oil price has fallen by a fifth as the countries have halted the travel. Moreover, closed down industries and restricted regular day-to-day activities. Hence, the demand for fuel and energy has sharply been declined.
Additional big oils and gas firms such as Royal Dutch Shell and BP also saw profits plunge. Moreover, Exxon Mobil, the largest US energy company, stated its first annual loss.
The oil price has improved lightly since December. It has grown up to $64.53 for a barrel of Brent Crude as the vaccine rollout goes underway.
“We are seeing a rise in demand in Asia and also positive signs elsewhere,” said the chief executive of Saudi Aramco. Mr Amin Nasser added that they assume this to last as the government and authorities worldwide will resume their economies.
However, Aramco faces other hurdles. Two recent drone attacks have made him suffer. The attack was on its installations because of Saudi’s involvement in Yemen. One last Friday started a fire at an oil refinery in Riyadh.
Mr Amin Nasser said the refinery was back on stream within a few hours. Also that the firm had emergency response plans in place to deal with such attacks.
