Comfortable with $30 a barrel, says Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco’s CFO Khalid al-Dabbagh said on Monday the company was “very comfortable” with $30 a barrel oil prices and that it can meet its dividends commitments and shareholders expectations even with current low oil price.

Saudi Aramco reported a profit of $88.2 in 2019, down from $111.1 billion in 2018. Capital expenditure was down in 2019 to $32.8 billion compared to $35.1 billion the year before.

Aramco expects to spend between $25 billion to $30 billion this year, down some $10 billion than previous estimates.  It “was an exceptional year for Saudi Aramco,” President and CEO Amin H Nasser said in a statement. “Through a variety of circumstances - some planned and some not - the world was offered unprecedented insight into Saudi Aramco’s agility and resilience.”

The publicly released figures mark a new turn for the firm, which previously was a private company owned directly by the Al Saud ruling family that didn’t need to announce results. It now must release figures after listing a sliver of its worth on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange.

Aramco initially listed on the Tadawul in December at 32 riyals ($8.53) a share, giving the company a valuation of $1.7 trillion. Initial days of trading saw shares rapidly rise, briefly giving the company the $2 trillion valuation long sought by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who hoped listing the firm would give the kingdom cash for his economic development plans.

Agencies