Aramco Reports Record Profit, Injecting Saudi Kingdom With Cash - WSJ
High crude prices are infusing Saudi Arabia with billions of dollars in cash, fueling record profit at its national oil company, lending fresh momentum to the country’s ambitious economic makeover and strengthening its geopolitical power.
The country’s giant oil-producing business Aramco, officially named Saudi Arabian Oil Co., said Sunday that its net income jumped 90% to $48.4 billion in the three months ending in June from the same period a year earlier, due to higher crude oil prices and stronger refining profits. It is the highest quarterly net income Aramco has posted since it started trading its shares on the Saudi stock exchange in 2019.
Aramco’s performance has helped kick the Saudi economy into a higher gear as the U.S. and Europe worry about recession, demonstrating how the war in Ukraine and the resulting surge in energy prices have boosted petrostates that just a few years ago were struggling with a depressed oil market and a world transitioning to cleaner fuels.
Saudi Arabia registered 11.8% year-over-year economic growth in the second quarter. While the International Monetary Fund predicts growth of 7.6% this year, more-bullish economists forecast a rate of 10%. That would make it one of the world’s best performers. An index of Saudi private-sector business confidence was at its highest level in eight months in June when consumer spending increased 13% year-over-year, the Saudi bank Jadwa Investment said in a note.
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