High oil prices help Saudi Aramco earn $88 billion in H1

High oil prices help Saudi Aramco earn $88 billion in H1

Saudi energy company Aramco said Sunday its profits jumped 90 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same time last year, helping its half-year earnings reach nearly $88 billion. The increase is a boon for the kingdom and the crown prince’s spending power as people around the world pay higher gas prices at the pump while energy companies rake in top earnings. Major oil companies had a strong quarter with Exxon Mobil booking an unprecedented $17.85 billion profit while Chevron made a record $11.62 billion. The UK’s Shell shattered its own profit record. Aramco’s net profits were helped by strong second-quarter earnings ending in June that hit $48.4 billion - a figure higher than all of the first six months of 2021, when profits reached just $47 billion. It sets a new quarterly earnings record for Aramco since it first floated around 5% of the company on the Saudi stock market in late 2019. Its earnings for just this past quarter are almost what Aramco’s full-year profits were in 2020, when demand for oil crashed during pandemic lockdowns. Its half-year earnings of $87.9 billion put Aramco on track to far surpass the full-year earnings of 2019, prior to