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Aramco profit in 2024 falls by 12% to $106.3bn

4 March 2025

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Saudi Aramco has announced a net income of $106.246bn for the full-year 2024, a decline of about 12% compared to 2023.

Despite the drop in profit, Aramco’s board declared a base dividend of $21.1bn for the fourth quarter of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%, to be paid in the first quarter of 2025, “reflecting Aramco’s focus on delivering a sustainable and progressive dividend”.

Additionally, the company also declared a performance-linked dividend of $200m, which is to be paid within the first quarter of this year, in line with the previously announced mechanism.

The Saudi energy giant paid a total dividend of $124.425bn in 2024, an increase of 27% compared to the previous year.

The company expects to pay a total dividend of $85.4bn in 2025.

“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,” Amin H Nasser, Aramco’s president and CEO, said.

Aramco’s cash flow from operating activities in 2024 was recorded at $135.7bn, while free cash flow stood at $85.3bn.

The company’s gearing ratio was 4.5% as of 31 December 2024, compared to -6.3% at the end of 2023.

Capital expenditure

Aramco’s capital investment in 2024 stood at $53.3bn, which includes $50.4bn of organic capital expenditure – a year-on-year increase of 27%.

Aramco’s capital investment guidance for 2025 is in the range of $52bn to $58bn, excluding around $4bn of project financing.

The company said it is on track to deliver its growth strategy across its upstream and downstream businesses, with potential additional operating cash flows of $9bn to $10bn from growth in its upstream gas business and $8bn to $10bn from growth in its downstream segment by 2030.

Aramco said its spare capacity of 12 million barrels a day “provides flexibility to help meet potential oil demand growth”, adding, “if called upon, utilising one million barrels per day of existing spare capacity could generate an additional $12bn in operating cash flow, based on 2024’s average price”, of $80.2 a barrel.

“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,” Nasser said.

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Indrajit Sen

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