Saudi Aramco will pay its shareholders almost £100bn in dividends this year as the kingdom’s ruling family seeks funds to transform the economy.
The world’s biggest oil producer said it expects to deliver £99 billion in 2024 despite a 14 per cent drop in first-quarter profits to £21.7 billion.
The proposed dividend payments are 30 percent higher than last year and will give Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a war chest to finance a number of major projects.
The Saudi state owns 82 percent of Aramco and relies heavily on the oil giant for its finances.
PIF, the Saudi sovereign fund, owns another 16 percent.
Ambitious: What Saudi Arabia’s desert megacity could look like – one of a series of projects to make the kingdom’s economy less dependent on oil
The crown prince, known as MBS, is embarking on a series of projects to make the kingdom’s economy less dependent on oil.
These include investments in tourism, manufacturing and renewable energy, as well as a futuristic 100-mile megacity.
Aramco also increased dividends by around 30 per cent last year, taking payouts to £78bn after profits soared to the second-highest level in the company’s history.
The previous year, Aramco posted annual profits of £134bn – a record for any listed company in history – due to sky-high energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.