Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco reported lower profit in the second quarter of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which hit worldwide demand for crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products. However, CEO Amin Nasser said global oil demand was improving in line with the gradual economic reopening.
Aramco reported a net profit of SAR24.6 billion ($6.57 billion) in the quarter, a fall of 73.4% from a year earlier, a sharper decline than analysts had forecast. The company said spending would be at the lower end of its target between $25 billion and $30 billion.
Aramco shares inched up 0.4% in early trade. It is currently the world’s second-most valuable publicly-traded company after Apple overtook its top spot. Despite lower profit, Aramco pledged to pay a dividend of $18.75 billion for the second quarter of 2020, in line with plans for a $75 billion dividend for the whole year. Aramco generated a free cash flow of $6.1 billion in the April-June quarter and $21.1 billion for the January-June period, compared to $20.6 billion and $38.0 billion, respectively, a year earlier.
