Aramco reports profits of US$106.2bn in 2024

Aramco recorded healthy profits of US$106.2bn in 2024, and capital investment of US$53.3bn as it implemented the largest capital programme in its history

Profits were, however, hit by lower oil prices, seeing a drop of 12% on the 2023 figure, attributed by the company to “lower revenue and other income related to sales, higher operating costs, as well as lower finance and other income.”

Amin H. Nasser, Aramco’s president and CEO, noted that Aramco has made significant strides during the year on a number of projects and initiatives aimed at reinforcing its upstream pre-eminence, further integrating its downstream portfolio and developing the new energies business.

In its Annual Report, Aramco states that it intends to maintain its position as the world’s largest crude oil company by production volume, and is progressing several crude oil increments that are scheduled to come onstream in the coming years to sustain maximum sustainable capacity at 12mn bpd as well as allowing Aramco to preserve its operational flexibility.

The Marjan and Berri increments are expected to be onstream in 2025, with the Zuluf field increment scheduled to follow in 2026 and the second phase of Dammam in 2027.

Expanding the gas business

Aramco plans to further expand its gas business, including the development of its unconventional gas resources, increase its sales gas production capacity by more than 60% by 2030 compared to its 2021 production levels and invest in additional infrastructure to meet the large and growing domestic demand and to displace oil in power generation. Phase One of its Jafurah unconventional gas field development remains on schedule for 2025, with contracts awarded for Phase Two. The Tanajib Gas Plant project will come onstream in 2025, providing additional raw gas processing capacity from Marjan and Zuluf. Aramco has also completed the first full cycle of gas storage and reproduction into the Master Gas System from the Kingdom’s first underground natural gas storage reservoir.

Aramco anticipates strong demand-led growth for LNG as the energy transition progresses, with plans to develop an integrated global LNG business. In 2024, it acquired a strategic minority stake in MidOcean, followed by additional investments.

Downstream, Aramco intends to continue the strategic integration of its Upstream and Downstream businesses to facilitate the placement of the company’s crude oil in larger offtake volumes through a dedicated system of domestic and international wholly-owned and affiliated refineries and petrochemical complexes. The company intends to continue to grow its liquids-to-chemicals business, with a goal to increase its capacity in petrochemical producing complexes to up to four million bpd by 2030. Geographically, Aramco intends to enhance both its domestic and global Downstream businesses in key high-growth geographies such as China, India, and Southeast Asia.

Aramco is also making further investments in renewables projects through its New Energies business, as well as advancing lower-carbon products and solutions in the energy, chemicals, and materials sectors. Particularly noteworthy is the carbon capture and storage hub, which it is developing with partners at Jubail. When completed, this facility is expected to be one of the largest in the world, with the capacity to capture up to nine million tons of CO2 annually from the first phase.

“Our strong net income and increased base dividend illustrate Aramco’s exceptional resilience and ability to leverage its unique scale, low cost, and high levels of reliability to deliver industry-leading performance for our shareholders and customers,” said Nasser.

“Global oil demand reached new highs in 2024, and we expect further growth in 2025. With dependable and more sustainable energy key to global economic growth, we continue to make progress on projects to maintain our maximum sustainable crude oil capacity, expand our gas capabilities, achieve further integration of our Upstream and Downstream businesses to capture additional value, and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

“We are also adopting and deploying AI technologies and solutions at scale across our operations, unlocking greater efficiencies and value creation throughout our business. Capital discipline is at the core of Aramco’s strategy, enabling us to deliver growth and capture value across conventional and new energy solutions.”

“With the world’s demand for energy continuing to grow, clearly one of the defining challenges of our time will be meeting this rising need while also lowering overall emissions to address climate challenges,” said H.E. Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan, chairman of the Board of Directors in the company’s Annual Report. “Against this backdrop, Aramco is purposely investing today with the long-term in mind.”