Oil: Aramco announces “record” profits in 2022

" profits

in 2022, thanks to soaring crude prices in the wake of the war in Ukraine, boosting the economy of the world's largest exporter of crude.

The company, largely owned by the Saudi state, posted a net profit of $161.1 billion last year, up 46% year on year, according to a statement published on the Riyadh stock exchange.

These are the highest profits for Aramco since its listing on the stock exchange, the text said.

The oil giant floated 1.7% of its shares on the Saudi Stock Exchange in December 2019, raising $29.4 billion in the biggest IPO in history.

“

,” company CEO Amin Nasser said in the statement.

Read alsoBertille Bayart: “The great revenge of oil”

Like majors Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies and PB, which raked in record profits of $151 billion in 2022, Aramco has largely benefited from the strong recovery in oil demand after the pandemic and the surge in prices following the Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In this context, "

", reacted Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute think tank in Washington.

While oil prices have fallen since the peaks of 2022, they should remain high this year, supported in particular by the drop in production approved last October by OPEC+, the alliance of exporting countries led by Riyadh and Moscow.

This decision was severely criticized at the time by Washington.

Read alsoAramco, the oil giant that provides Arabia with most of its income

"

," said Robert Mogielnicki.

Aramco's oil facilities have suffered drone and missile attacks in recent years claimed by Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen, backed by Iran.

But the restoration of diplomatic ties between Ryad and Tehran, announced Friday after seven years of rupture, could make it possible to reduce these risks in the months to come.

Public expenses

Aramco's profits have fueled economic growth in the Gulf kingdom, whose GDP grew by 8.7% in 2022, according to official estimates, the highest rate among G20 countries.

The world's largest crude oil exporter, which is seeking to diversify its economy to reduce its dependence on hydrocarbons, welcomed on Thursday the jump in non-hydrocarbon activities in the fourth quarter of 2022, by 6.2% year-on-year, according to the authority. Saudi statistics.

Read alsoWhen Prince Mohammed Ben Salman's Saudi Arabia tries to modernize

But this growth has been driven by public spending which will "

", nuanced Justin Alexander, director of the cabinet Khalij Economics, underlining the central role of Aramco in the first economy of the world. Arab World.

Saudi Arabia has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, without giving up investment in fossil fuels, arousing skepticism from environmental organisations.

Aramco launched in 2022 "

", increasing its capital expenditure by 18% to 37.6 billion dollars, said Amin Nasser in the press release.

Aramco has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero at its industrial sites by 2050. This goal does not take into account emissions produced by consumers of Saudi oil abroad.