Saudi Aramco is bucking the trend among oil majors by spending the windfall from this year’s surge in energy prices on boosting production capacity rather than increasing returns for shareholders.
While Aramco will maintain its hefty $75 billion annual dividend -- the world’s largest and most of which goes to the government -- it’s so far resisting the path taken by other industry giants to dole out more to investors.
In the past two weeks, the likes of BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have said they will increase share buybacks and payouts, confident the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is over. The rise in commodities -- crude’s up around 40% this year -- is bolstering their bottom lines even as some scale back on exploration and new production.
It’s different for Aramco. The company, based in Dhahran in eastern Saudi Arabia, kept its payout unchanged last year, even as oil prices plunged and it needed to sell debt to meet the commitment.
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