Profits at record high
Aramco is doing good business in the energy crisis
03/12/2023, 2:05 p.m
Aramco is one of the major beneficiaries of the Ukraine war and the associated explosion in energy prices. The Saudi Arabian group reports a record profit for the past year, which exceeds the figure for 2021 by 46 percent.
The Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco reported a record profit of 161.1 billion US dollars (151.4 billion euros) for the past year. The exploding profit growth – 46 percent more than in the previous year – is “essentially due to the high oil price” and the quantities sold, said the group, which is mainly state-owned. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, energy prices around the world had skyrocketed.
Activists reacted with outrage to the oil company’s earnings report. “It is staggering that in a single year a company can make more than $161 billion in profit from the sale of fossil fuels – the biggest driver of climate change,” said Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard. Even more shocking is that “this surplus has been accumulated amid a global crisis in the cost of living and rising energy prices from Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.” Aramco’s earnings are the highest annual earnings a company has ever reported, Callard pointed out.
The Saudi Arabian oil company only went public in 2019. It is the second most valuable company in the world after Apple. Five other oil giants also reported record profits in 2022: Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP and TotalEnergies. Aramco has committed to “operational carbon neutrality” by 2050 – which only means that the oil facilities should no longer cause greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from the combustion of Aramco’s oil around the world are not included.
Which side is Saudi Arabia on?
Aramco’s profits have also boosted the Saudi Arabian economy: According to official figures, the economy in Saudi Arabia grew by 8.7 percent in 2022 compared to the same period last year. This is the highest value in the group of leading industrialized and emerging countries (G20).
Saudi Arabia leads OPEC group of oil exporting countries. Together with other countries – above all Russia – they form OPEC+. At the beginning of October, the merger had agreed on a significant reduction in production in November, which had led to diplomatic quarrels with the USA and allegations that Saudi Arabia was taking sides in favor of Russia. Riyadh then assured that the decision was made “purely for economic reasons”.