Qatar doubts record drop in Saudi Aramco revenues
A 44-percent drop in revenues of Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil companies, in 2020, compared to 2019, is not credible, a source in the Qatar oil industry told RIA Novosti, informs.
Earlier, the Saudi state oil company released the results for the past year, according to which, compared to 2019, it lost 44% of its profits, having earned $49 billion against $88 billion a year ago. Some observers have called this drop in revenue the largest in the oil giant’s modern history. However, the company’s management said that it coped well with the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic compared to other global oil companies and paid $75 billion dividends to shareholders.
“The news about the sharp decline in Saudi Aramco’s revenues over the past year is hard to believe for many reasons. From a technical point of view, this drop in Saudi Aramco’s revenues could not easily happen as they have a very low oil production price – only $ 2.50 per barrel. Besides, long-term contracts are carried out at a fixed price, so they could only lose on spot contracts, which can be easily restored,” the source said.
Also, according to the Qatari source, oil prices have never fallen by almost 50%, since Saudi Arabia controls oil prices through OPEC, as well as thanks to its huge reserves with a very low oil production price. And this is another reason why the company’s revenues could not fall as much as they say in Saudi Aramco.