Aramco resumes upstream action

Oil market recovery is financing a cautious renewal of spending on core domestic projects

Saudi Aramco benefitted from rising oil prices to post a 30pc year-on-year leap in profits in Q1, to SAR78.6bn ($21bn)—a sharp contrast to the 44pc slump seen across 2020 as whole. But despite the prospects of more cash to come, the firm remains loath to lift spending. Crude production averaged a mere 8.6mn bl/d in the first three months of 2021 but will be permitted to rise to 9.23mn bl/d in May and gradually more thereafter. With Brent above 65/bl since mid-April, Aramco’s coffers should swell accordingly. 30pc – Year-on-year increase in Q1 profit But the firm restated in its Q1 results its downward revision of full-year capex to $35bn. Non-core investments in US LNG liquefaction a