Saudi oil giant Aramco announces $161 billion in profits in 2022
Saudi giant Aramco's record profits have sparked outrage from many NGOs.
Here, engineers from the oil giant and journalists visit the company's Hawiyah site in Saudi Arabia on November 1, 2022. © Amr Nabil / AP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Aramco has never made so many profits.
The Saudi oil giant announced on Sunday March 12 record profits in 2022, with 161 billion dollars, an increase of 46% compared to the previous year.
This is also the case for the other major international oil groups which are benefiting from the surge in crude oil prices in 2022.
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The price of black gold continues to increase... and so do profits.
It started
two years ago
.
And in 2022, it is the war in Ukraine that has
caused new tensions
.
From 40 dollars per barrel on average in 2020, the price has risen to 60 dollars.
Before Aramco, French TotalEnergies had already
announced record profits in February
.
But prices
should drop slightly
in 2023, explains Olivier Appert, energy adviser at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI):
The market, in the long term, rather anticipates a fall, of the order of 10%, in 2023. We would still arrive at price levels that are still significantly higher than those that we had known in 2021, for example.
After the record profit of several oil groups in 2022 "the market is considering a 10% drop" in prices, according to Olivier Appert, energy adviser at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI)
Alexis Bedu
“ Mind-blowing and shocking
”
profits
The 161 billion profits for Aramco provoke the ulcerated reaction of many associations and NGOs, including that of the Secretary-General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard:
“
These are the most important results that have ever been disclosed by a company in a single year, they are based on the sale of fossil fuels, therefore the main driver of the climate crisis.
These profits, which have been amassed in a year of great suffering for the world and for the planet, are mind-boggling and shocking.
»
Amnesty International calls on Saudi Arabia to finance a fund for a fairer energy transition.
► To read also: The energy giants "did nothing to deserve their superprofits", says Joseph Stiglitz
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