Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas giant Aramco announced Tuesday third quarter profits of nearly $12 billion despite that share prices of global oil companies have been hammered this year as investors fret over the impact of the pandemic on energy demand.
“We saw early signs of a recovery in the third quarter due to improved economic activity, despite the headwinds facing global energy markets,” Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said in a statement.
Aramco’s third quarter earnings are notably higher than it’s second quarter earnings of $6.6 billion.
The company said it would distribute a dividend of $18.75 billion for the third quarter of this year, in line with its plan to pay a base dividend of $75 billion for 2020.
Aramco’s net profit almost doubled from 24.62 billion riyals in the second quarter, which the company attributed to higher oil prices, although it noted that was partly offset by a drop in volumes sold.
