Aramco keeps on spending

As cash-strapped Western governments commit to substantially raising defence expenditure, a similar dynamic is playing out in Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas sector, as Saudi Aramco maintains it heavy capex push despite reduced revenues

State energy company Saudi Aramco recorded a 12% drop in net income in 2024, to $106b, amid lower prices and production. With its finances feeling the pinch of global headwinds, the company announced on 4 March that its performance-related dividend in Q1 2025 would be slashed to $200m, from $10.8b the previous quarter. But despite the straitened financial circumstances, Aramco is sticking to its expansive capex programme, which last year accounted for 9% of the world’s total upstream spending.   The reduced oil income may have hit the Saudi budget hard, but capex growth looks resilient. The IEA noted upstream spending last year of $50b was 35% higher than Aramco’s 2018–22 levels. Aramco itse