Saudi Aramco Reports 82% Surge in Q1 Net Profit Amid Ukraine Crisis

Photo by Bloomberg News

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Due to the aftermath of the Ukraine war and other factors, international oil prices have soared, causing Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco's net profit in the first quarter of this year to surge by more than 80%.

According to foreign media including the AP News on the 15th (local time), Aramco recorded a net profit of $39.5 billion (approximately 50.7 trillion KRW) in the first quarter of 2022. This is an 82% increase from the $21.7 billion (approximately 27.8 trillion KRW) net profit in the first quarter of last year, marking the highest profit since its initial public offering (IPO) in December 2019.

International oil prices rose to $139 per barrel, the highest in 14 years, on March 14 this year, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, and currently remain around $111 per barrel. Aramco's stock price has also reached its highest level since listing. On this day, on the Riyadh Stock Exchange (Tadawul), Aramco was trading at 42.15 riyals per share, up 3.69% from the previous trading day. Its market capitalization exceeded 8.94 trillion riyals (approximately 3150 trillion KRW), surpassing Apple (2.38 trillion USD, approximately 3050 trillion KRW), which was the world's largest listed company by market capitalization until earlier this year, making Aramco the world's number one company by market capitalization.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer and a key member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), recorded an economic growth rate of 9.6% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, the highest in 10 years. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the Saudi economy will grow by 7.6% this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.