Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled oil giant pressed ahead with a plan to pay $75 billion in dividends this year despite crashing profit and a surge in debt, as the kingdom battles a widening budget deficit.
Saudi Aramco said net income for the three months ending in June fell to 24.6 billion riyals ($6.6 billion), down 73 per cent from a year earlier, after crude prices collapsed. Aramco will pay a dividend of $18.75 billion for the quarter, most of it to the government, which owns around 98 per cent of the company’s stock.
Aramco’s performance and demand for energy will probably