Saudi Aramco maintains quarterly dividend at $31 billion

Saudi Aramco, the world’s top oil-exporting company, has reported a more than 15 per cent decline in its third-quarter profit, amid a challenging oil market marked by low prices, but still maintained a substantial 116.4 billion Saudi riyals ($31 billion) dividend.
Net profit in the three months through September dropped 15.4 per cent to 103.37 billion riyals, the Dhahran-based company said on Tuesday.
However, the company retained a base dividend of 76.1 billion riyals and a performance-linked dividend of 40.4 billion riyals for distribution in the fourth quarter.
“Aramco delivered robust net income and generated strong free cash flow during the third quarter, despite a lower oil price environment,” Amin Nasser, president and chief executive of Saudi Aramco, said.
“We also progressed our upstream developments, strengthened our downstream value chain and advanced our new energies programme as we continue to invest through cycles.”
More to follow…