Saudi Aramco announces that its profits have fallen sharply in 2020
However, the oil company was optimistic about the future: It has maintained its annual dividend of $ 75 billion, and the company believes it will return to pre-pandemic oil production levels by the end of 2021.
Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser said in a phone call with reporters that he is very optimistic about 2021, and he expects the company to reach nearly 99 million barrels per day by the end of the year. He said that this view is based on the views of various global entities and agencies, and he expected an increase in demand in 2022.
“The deployment of the vaccine will make the situation much better,” he added.
“Given the massive impact of Covid-19 across the global economy, we have intensified our strong focus on capital and operational efficiencies,” Nasser said.
The earnings report comes as Saudi Aramco refineries face drone attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels backed by Iran.
“Our reliability in 2020 despite Covid-19 and these attacks on various parts of our facilities in the north and south and in Ras Tanura recently reached 99.9%,” Al-Nasser said. “It’s higher than in previous years.”
It is further evidence of our strong crisis management and continuity plans. “
John Defterios of CNN contributed to this report.