<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saudi oil giant Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) reported a 15.4% year-over-year decline in its third-quarter profits, attributing the drop to lower crude prices and weaker refining margins. However, Aramco reaffirmed its commitment to a substantial dividend, maintaining a $31.1 billion payout for the quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the quarter ending September 30, Aramco posted net earnings of $27.6 billion, surpassing both the company’s median estimate of $26.9 billion and Citi’s forecast of $26.3 billion. Despite the year-over-year decline, the result outperformed analyst expectations. Nevertheless, Aramco’s share price fell slightly after the report, adding to an approximate 17% decline in its share value year-to-date, comparable with BP’s 18% drop but lagging behind Exxon and Shell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aramco’s $31.1 billion dividend includes a $10.8 billion performance-linked component, introduced in 2022 after a record-breaking profit year driven by high oil prices. This performance-linked dividend supplements a base dividend, which Aramco pays out regardless of quarterly performance\u2014an unusual structure for publicly traded companies. Aramco expects to pay $124.3 billion in dividends for 2024, with $43.1 billion linked to performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lower oil production levels and softer oil prices have contributed to a projected fiscal deficit for Saudi Arabia of 118 billion riyals ($32 billion) in 2023, equivalent to approximately 2.9% of GDP. This forecasted deficit surpasses the 79 billion riyals initially anticipated for 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help meet financing needs, Saudi Arabia sold an additional stake in Aramco earlier this year, raising $12.35 billion. Additionally, the kingdom became the largest emerging-market debt issuer in the first half of 2023, with its public debt reaching 1.15 trillion riyals ($306.17 billion) by June, a 9.4% annual increase. This debt level is projected to rise to 1.172 trillion riyals by year-end, exceeding earlier estimates of 1.103 trillion riyals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Economic Implications<\/strong>: Lower oil revenues are impacting Saudi Arabia’s fiscal position, with increased public debt issuance and an anticipated rise in the kingdom’s debt by year-end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Profit Decline<\/strong>: Aramco\u2019s Q3 profit dropped 15.4% due to lower oil prices and refining margins but still beat analyst expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dividend Resilience<\/strong>: Despite the profit dip, Aramco sustained its dividend, with a substantial portion tied to performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Saudi oil giant Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) reported a 15.4% year-over-year decline in its third-quarter profits, attributing the drop to lower crude prices and weaker refining margins. However, Aramco reaffirmed its commitment to a substantial dividend, maintaining a $31.1 billion payout for the quarter. Profit Performance and Market Reaction For the quarter ending September 30, Aramco posted …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":44462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,36],"tags":[6962,8159,7349,8283],"class_list":["post-107845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-global-stock-markets","category-market-updates","tag-aramco","tag-crude-oil-prices","tag-profits","tag-saudi-oil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107846,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107845\/revisions\/107846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}