display

Riyadh (AP) - The profit of the state-owned Saudi oil company Saudi Aramco fell by 44 percent last year due to low crude oil prices and lower sales.

The industry giant reported an annual profit of 49 billion US dollars (41 billion euros) on Sunday - that's a decrease of 39 billion dollars compared to the previous year.

The president and chairman of the group, Amin Nassir, spoke of “one of the most challenging years in recent history”.

The corona pandemic had an enormous impact on the entire global economy.

However, the company's profit had already shrunk by 20 percent in 2019 and thus before the Corona crisis.

display

The energy giant is nevertheless looking to the future with confidence: "With the improvement in the macroeconomic environment, we are seeing a revival in demand in Asia and positive signs in other countries," said Nassir.

Because of the price war on the oil market, the group had also cut its investments last year.

While in 2019 $ 33 billion was invested, it was only $ 27 billion in 2020.

For the current year, the expenditures should amount to around 35 billion dollars - the forecast was originally 40 to 45 billion dollars.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210321-99-911602 / 2

Message from Aramco