Saudi Aramco on Tuesday reported $31.9 billion in net income for the first quarter, a drop of about 19 percent compared with the same period a year ago, mainly because of lower oil prices.
But with oil prices still relatively robust, Saudi Aramco remains enormously profitable — its earnings were roughly comparable to the quarterly profits reported by Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and BP combined — mainly because it produces enormous volumes of petroleum from giant fields in Saudi Arabia at relatively low cost.
Aramco’s main owner, the Saudi government, recently orchestrated a cutback in production by the group of countries known as OPEC Plus.
But Aramco is investing in expanding output, apparently shrugging off concerns that climate change risks might in the coming years crimp the market for fossil fuels.
“We believe oil and gas will remain critical components of the global energy mix for the foreseeable future,” Amin Nasser, Aramco’s chief executive, said in a statement on Tuesday.