Aramco’s Q1 net profit slides 25% on lower oil prices and Covid-19 – The National

Aramco’s Q1 net profit slides 25% on lower oil prices and Covid-19 – The National

Aramco's sales for the quarter fell 16.2 per cent to 225.6bn riyals.. The company paid $13.4bn in dividends in the first quarter for the last three months of 2019.. "Not surprisingly, our financial performance in the first three months of 2020 was impacted by the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic as well as lower oil prices," Saudi Aramco president and chief executive Amin Nasser said.. The slide in net profit was "partially offset by a decrease in production royalties, mainly resulting from lower crude prices, and a decrease in crude royalty rates from 20 per cent to 15 per cent, in addition to higher revenue relating to the price equalisation income on gas products," the company said.. The company has since reversed policy and is cutting back more than a quarter of its production to comply with the Opec+ - G20 output restriction agreement to counter the slump in oil prices from the coronavirus pandemic.. Saudi Arabia on Monday pledged to tighten its production restrictions by a million bpd, bringing its output to the lowest in 18 years.. Total production cut would average 4.8m bpd, bringing its total output for June to 7.492m bpd.. Saudi Aramco's capital expenditure