Aramco signals sharply lower dividends after 2024 profit drop

PARIS, France, March 4, 2025 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) – Saudi oil giant Aramco said on Tuesday it expects to declare total dividends of $85.4 billion in 2025, nearly 30% less than last year, after reporting a drop in profits as a result of lower sales and higher costs.

For the first quarter of 2025, the company declared just $200 million in performance – linked dividends, a fraction of last year’s quarterly payouts.

Last year’s dividends of over $124 billion included about $43.1 billion in performance-linked dividends, a mechanism introduced in 2023 on top of base dividends that are paid regardless of results.

Aramco said its net profit fell over 12% to $106.2 billion in 2024. Average realized oil prices eased to $80.2 last year from $83.6 in 2023, Aramco said in a presentation.

“These decrease was primarily driven by lower revenue and other income related to sales, higher operating costs, as well as lower finance and other income”, the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Aramco has been pumping crude at roughly three quarters of its capacity since mid-2023, when Saudi Arabia announced its biggest output reduction in years on top of earlier cut agreed with allied producing countries.

Aramco made net income of about $22.34 billion in the three months ending December 2024, according to Reuters calculations, nearly 15% lower than a year earlier.

Aramco said it expected to make capital investments of between $52 billion and $58 billion this year after reporting investments of $53.3 billion in 2024.