DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco says it boosted its dividends last year despite net profit falling to US$121.3bil from a record US$161.1bil in 2022 on lower oil prices.
The profit was still the company’s second-highest on record, it said yesterday. Aramco boosted total dividends for the year by 30% to US$97.8bil.
Aramco declared a base dividend, paid regardless of results, of US$20.3bil for the fourth quarter, to be paid this quarter. It approved a US$10.8bil performance-linked dividend, the third such payout. Both dividends were increased from the previous quarter.
The company said capital investments were at US$49.7bil in 2023, including US$42.2bil in organic capital expenditure (capex). That was up from US$38.8bil in capital investments and US$37.6bil organic capex in 2022. — Reuters
