Saudi Aramco reported a fall in first-quarter profits, resulting in a $10bn cut to its dividend and lowering a key source of funds for Saudi Arabia’s budget amid an uncertain outlook for oil prices.
The world’s largest oil company’s net income dropped 5 per cent from a year earlier to $26bn. Its average realised oil price was $76.30 a barrel, compared with $83 a barrel in the same quarter last year.
While the performance was better than that of some of its peers, including BP and Shell, whose first-quarter profits halved and fell by 28 per cent respectively, Aramco cut its total dividend to $21.4bn from $31bn in the final quarter of last year.