The world’s biggest listed oil producers have taken to boosting shareholder payouts following the surge in crude prices, with one notable exception.
Saudi Aramco on Sunday announced it would keep its dividend unchanged for 2021 at $75 billion. It’ll instead use extra money -- it generated $108 billion of free cash flow last year -- to reduce debt and increase oil and gas production capacity.
There’s little sign it will change course, even with crude up 45% this year to around $110 a barrel.
“We will continue to do a lot of deleveraging during these strong periods to retain flexibility during cyclical downturns,” Ziad al-Murshed, Aramco’s chief financial officer, told reporters. “We cannot ignore that we’re in a cyclical industry.”
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