According to Saudi Aramco, in 2021, its net profit more than doubled to $110 billion. The jump was caused by rising oil prices as well as high refining and chemical margins. Compared to the pre-pandemic year, 2019, the net profit of the state oil giant surged by 25%.
Last year, the company’s free cash flow advanced by 1.8 times to $139.4 billion. The company is also planning to increase crude oil production capacity to 13 million barrels a day by 2027, whereas gas production could be raised by over 50% by 2030. Notably, in 2021, crude oil production capacity totaled 9.2 million a day.
The ambitious plan of Saudi Aramco’s management is likely to become true thanks to better economic conditions. However, the company emphasizes the current uncertainty caused by macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. "We (therefore) continue to make progress on increasing our crude oil production capacity, executing our gas expansion program and increasing our liquids to chemicals capacity," Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said.
The oil giant intends to expand the liquid chemicals production capacity to 4 million barrels per day and boost the export of hydrogen. In 2021, capital expenditures soared by 18% to $31.9 billion. Such a considerable rise was primarily driven by "increased activities in relation to crude oil increments, the Tanajib Gas Plant, and development drilling programs". In 2022, capital expenditure could total approximately $40-50 billion.
Aramco also declared a fourth quarter dividend of $18.8 billion. The corporation’s board of directors "recommend that $4 billion in retained earnings be used to pay bonus shares to investors". Thus, the total dividend for 2021 is $75 billion, in addition to bonus shares.
