Saudi Arabian Oil Group, Saudi Aramco has displaced American multinational technology company Microsoft to emerge as the second largest company in the world.
According to reports, Aramco’s current market value is $2.11 trillion, which is 7.92 trillion Saudi riyals. The company displaced Microsoft to become the second-largest company in the world in April 2023.
Saudi Aramco reported a net profit of $161.1 billion for 2022, up from $110 billion a year earlier and a record net earnings result for the company, which joins every other big oil producer in the world to benefit from higher oil prices.
That figure also made Aramco the world’s most profitable company last year, ahead of Apple and the rest of Big Tech. The 2022 profit figure was, in fact, higher than the profits of Apple, Exxon, and Microsoft combined, Middle East Monitor noted.
The oil company also boasted a record cash flow from operating activities, at $186.2 billion, and a record free cash flow, at $148.5 billion.
It is also the company’s highest-ever profits since being listed, up by 46.5% to 604 billion riyals ($161 billion), compared with 412.4 billion riyals ($109 billion) in 2021.
Although Saudi Aramco’s first quarter 2023 results will be out on the 9th of May, the company has kept an open policy and already announced that it has every intention to increase its crude production by spending up to $55 billion in 2023 on capital projects.
Saudi Arabia currently has a 12 million bpd nameplate oil production capacity, which it plans to expand by 1 million bpd by 2027 through a series of offshore and onshore incremental projects.
In March 2023, the Chief executive at Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser announced that it was aiming for 3 million barrels per day (bpd) of additional oil export capacity by the end of this decade. This will be led by incremental oil and gas projects in the country and by replacing liquid fuels.
According to Nasser, 1 million bpd of additional crude capacity would come from Aramco’s ongoing capacity enhancement program by 2027, and another 1 million bpd would follow from availing additional gas in the utility sector, which is presently being used as liquids.
He also said that the expansion work on Aramco’s gas production capacity will bring additional natural gas liquids and condensate, freeing up another 1 million bpd by 2030.