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Saudi Aramco maintains $31 bln dividend regardless of lower Q1 earnings

Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Aramco expects to pay $31 billion in dividends to the Saudi federal government and its investors regardless of reporting lower earnings for the very first quarter on Tuesday, hit by lower oil volumes and prices offered.

The Saudi federal government, which directly holds about 82.2% of Aramco, relies heavily on the business's payments, which consist of taxes and royalties.

The kingdom, the world's greatest oil exporter, is investing billions of dollars to diversify its economy away from crude.

Aramco reported a 14% decline in first-quarter earnings to $ 27.3 billion in the three months to March 31, in line with analyst price quotes and below $31.9 billion a year previously, according to a company incomes declaration.

The business stated base dividend payouts for the very first quarter totalling $20.3 billion which will be totally covered by first-quarter earnings and a performance-linked dividend distribution of $10.8 billion to be paid in the 2nd quarter.

Aramco presented a special performance-based dividend last year based upon record revenues for 2022 and on revenues for 2023 and stated at the time it would amount to 50-70% of complimentary money circulation.

It stated it anticipates overall dividends of $124.3 billion to be declared in 2024, of those $43.1 billion in performance-linked dividends.

OPEC+ has actually carried out a series of output cuts given that late 2022 in the middle of increasing output from the United States and other non-member manufacturers, and concerns over demand as significant economies grapple with high rates of interest.

Brent crude has actually balanced around $83.50 so far in 2024, while Saudi Arabia needs oil at $96.2 to balance its 2024 budget, the IMF forecasts. With a forecasted budget deficit of 79 billion riyals ($ 21.07 billion) this year, the kingdom might delay parts of its several mega jobs.

Financing Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan said just recently that the kingdom's Vision 2030 plan to transform its economy will be adjusted as required, with some tasks being scaled back or extended and others sped up amidst a challenging environment.

The kingdom might also raise approximately 138 billion riyals ($ 36.80 billion) in financing in 2024, from $23 billion initially approximated at the start of year.

Aramco itself is most likely to issue bonds in 2024, its CFO stated earlier this year.

The Saudi federal government in late January ordered Aramco to ditch its expansion strategy to increase production capacity to 13 million barrels a day (mbpd), returning to the previous 12 mbpd target.

Two projects that belonged to the growth plan - Safaniyah and Manifa - are now on hold, while three others are ongoing.

On Tuesday Aramco said Marjan and Berri were expected to come onstream in 2025 adding 300,000 barrels daily (bpd) and 250,000 bpd respectively while Zuluf was on track to include 600,000 bpd by 2026.

Optimum production capacity will be optimised to maintain it within the 12 million bpd target despite ongoing jobs.

Saudi Arabia is poised to offer more shares of energy giant Aramco, three people familiar with the matter informed in February, and has lined up Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and HSBC for the sale, according to among the sources.

(source: Reuters)