Saudi Aramco Hikes Dividend, Adjusts Spending

By Pierre Bertrand

Saudi Arabia's national oil company hiked dividend payouts for last year after it achieved its second-highest ever net profit and said investment plans to 2028 would be reduced by an abandoned plan to boost production.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, said Sunday that it made $121.3 billion in net profit last year, compared with $161.1 billion in 2022, when oil prices swelled the company's coffers to a new record. Aramco attributed the fall to lower crude-oil prices and volumes sold, but said last year's net profit was its second-highest ever.

The company raised its base dividend for the fourth quarter by 4% to $20.3 billion and its performance-linked payout by 9% to $10.8 billion. Total dividends paid last year amounted to $97.8 billion, a 30% increase from 2022, it said.

"Our resilience and agility contributed to healthy cash flows and high levels of profitability, despite a backdrop of economic headwinds," Aramco President and Chief Executive Amin H. Nasser said.

Aramco, which halted plans in late January to increase its maximum sustainable crude oil production capacity after Saudi Arabia chose to maintain it at 12 million barrels per day, said that it expected capital spending for 2024 would range from $48 billion to $58 billion and grow until around the middle of the decade.

However, the company said investment would be reduced by around $40 billion between 2024 and 2028 as a result of the decision to scrap plans to boost oil production.

Aramco spent $49.7 billion in 2023, up 28% on year, after narrowing in November its capital investment guidance range to $48 billion to $52 billion including external investments from around $45 billion to $55 billion originally. Organic investment amounted to $42.2 billion last year.

That move comes as the Middle Eastern Kingdom earlier this month joined with other OPEC+ members in extending voluntary production cuts into the second quarter of this year.

Aramco said it produced 12.8 million barrels of oil equivalent on average a day in 2023, compared with 13.6 million in 2022.

The company also said it aims to increase natural-gas production more than 60% by 2030 compared with 2021 levels.

Write to Pierre Bertrand at pierre.bertrand@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 11, 2024 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.