Saudi Aramco profit slumps 73% as pandemic chokes oil sales

Saudi Aramco profit slumps 73% as pandemic chokes oil sales

Saudi Arabia's state-controlled oil giant reported a 73% drop in second-quarter profit and maintained plans to pay $75 billion in annual dividends, a vital source of cash for a government saddled with a swelling deficit.

Saudi Aramco, which Apple recently dethroned as the world's most valuable listed company, said profit in the three months ending in June declined to 24.6 billion riyals ($6.6 billion) compared with 92.6 billion a year earlier, according to a statement. Aramco will pay a second-quarter dividend of $18.75 billion, most of it to the government, the company's main shareholder.

The decrease in profit was due mainly to “the impact of lower crude oil prices and declining refining and chemicals margins,” Aramco said in the statement to the Saudi stock exchange.

The world's biggest oil exporter has been hit