Despite Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco reporting a 12% decrease of its net profits in 2024 due to lower energy prices, the company outperformed leading global oil and gas companies, notably, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and Total Energies, exceeding their combined total earnings at $106.25bn in the same year.
Benchmark Brent crude traded last week at around $70 a barrel, down over 15% over the last year. Global oil inventory levels have declined to around five-year lows, which means there are potential risks related to geopolitical instability and volatility, according to Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser, suggesting crude prices could rise over time due to that.
Aramco has a market value of $1.74tn, making it the world’s sixth-most valuable company behind Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon and Alphabet.
Saudi Arabia’s vast oil resources, located close to the surface of its desert expanse, make it one of the world’s least expensive places to produce crude. For every $10 rise in the price of a barrel of oil, Saudi Arabia stands to make an additional $40bn a year, according to the Institute of International Finance.
On the other side, having its earnings plunge around 98% in 2024, oil company BP said it’s planning to announce a “fundamental reset” of its business strategy. Obviously, the company had a rough 2024. It could be moving away from renewables and doubling down on oil and gas.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants to roll back clean energy incentives and drill more oil and gas.
