Saudi oil giant Aramco announces first-quarter profits of $26 billion,
down 4.6% from a year earlier
[May 12, 2025] By
GABE LEVIN
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant
Aramco posted first-quarter profits of $26 billion on Sunday, down 4.6%
from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s
multi-trillion-dollar development plans.
Aramco, formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., had revenues of
$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on
Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw $107.2 billion in
revenues and profits of $27.2 billion the same quarter last year.
Saudi Arabia has promised to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the
course of President Donald Trump’s term.
Trump, who is set to touch down in Riyadh on Tuesday on his first
official foreign trip since he retook the Oval Office, said in January
that he wants that number to be even higher, at around $1 trillion.
Meanwhile, the Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,
has his sights set on a $500 billion project to build Neom, a vast,
futuristic city in the desert along the Red Sea. The kingdom will also
need new stadiums and infrastructure costing tens of billions of dollars
by 2034, when Saudi Arabia will host the World Cup.
The announcement of Aramco’s first-quarter results comes as the OPEC+
alliance has ramped up oil production. The oil cartel has agreed to
boost output by 411,000 barrels per day next month, as uncertainty
driven by U.S. tariffs has rippled through Middle Eastern markets. That
means Saudi Arabia will likely need to borrow or spend reserve funds to
finance the crown prince’s expensive goals.
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Saudi Aramco engineers and journalists look at the Hawiyah Natural
Gas Liquids Recovery Plant in Hawiyah, in the Eastern Province of
Saudi Arabia on June 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
 Aramco’s stock traded at over $6 a
share Sunday, down from a high of around $8 last year. It has
dropped over the past year as oil prices have dipped, and in recent
months.
“Global trade dynamics affected energy markets in the first quarter
of 2025, with economic uncertainty impacting oil prices,” Aramco
President and CEO Amin H. Nasser said in a statement.
Benchmark Brent crude traded Friday at over $63 a barrel, down from
highs of over $80 in the last year.
Aramco has a market value of over $1.6 trillion, making it the sixth
richest company behind Microsoft, Apple, NVIDIA, Amazon and
Alphabet, the owner of Google. Analysts see the company as a trend
leader for global oil markets.
A fraction of Aramco trades on the Tadawul while the lion’s share of
the company is owned by Saudi Arabia’s government, helping pay for
expenditures and adding to the wealth of the country’s Al Saud royal
family.
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