Saudi Aramco posted the biggest quarterly adjusted profit of any listed company globally driven by high crude prices and production.
Revenue climbed 80% to $150 billion and free cash flow, which had dropped below the level needed to fund its dividend payments in 2020, rose 53% from a year earlier to $34.6 billion. Profit beat a company-compiled-analyst-estimate of $46.2 billion. The company is scheduled to release a more detailed breakdown of its results.
Aramco “expects oil demand to continue to grow for the rest of the decade, despite downward economic pressures on short-term global forecasts” Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said.
The company is using the windfall to reduce debt and invest in a huge expansion of its production capacity.
Global oil demand continues to be “healthy,” Nasser said. If aviation fuel demand picks up to pre-pandemic levels “that will put a lot of tightness in the market,” he said.
Aramco would have no problem producing 12 million barrels a day if asked to by the Saudi government, Nasser said. The company is also working on increasing crude oil maximum sustainable capacity from 12 million barrels per day to 13 million by 2027.