Aramco posts drop in annual profit, announces first buyback

By Yousef Saba

March 10 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Aramco 2222.SE, the world's top oil exporter, reported a 12% drop in annual profit mainly due to lower crude prices, but announced it would repurchase up to $3 billion worth of shares in its first-ever buyback.

The results were released on Tuesday at a highly volatile time for global oil markets as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has led to a near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz and forced several regional producers to curb output.

Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser warned of "catastrophic consequences" for the world's oil markets if the conflict continued to disrupt traffic through the vital shipping artery.

Aramco, which has been forced to reroute ships to the Red Sea, will conduct the buyback program over the next 18 months. Until now, it has relied on its massive dividend payouts to reward shareholders. It will ultimately sell the repurchased shares back to its employees, CFO Ziad Al-Murshed told analysts on a call.

Oil prices were around 15% lower in 2025 than the previous year at an average of about $68 a barrel, which has pushed other oil majors such as BP BP.L, TotalEnergies TTEF.PA and Equinor EQNR.OL to remove or slash share buyback programmes.

Brent crude, which surged to near $120 on Monday due to the war, was trading around $91 on Tuesday.

Aramco's shares were down 1.2% at 1150 GMT, paring some earlier losses. Their performance has trailed western peers since its blockbuster 2019 initial public offering.

NET INCOME COMES IN BELOW CONSENSUS ESTIMATE

Aramco reported $93.4 billion in net income for 2025, below an LSEG consensus estimate of $95.6 billion.

For the fourth quarter, net profit tumbled 20.5% to nearly $17.8 billion on higher operating costs, marking its 12th consecutive quarter of year-on-year profit decline.

Aramco reported an impairment charge 14.6 billion riyals ($3.88 billion) on certain domestic and international downstream facilities due to "revised cash flow projections due to changes in market conditions."

It also booked an additional write-down of 4.45 billion riyals, "primarily related to the closure of an international downstream facility".

Aramco confirmed paying a base dividend of $21.1 billion for the fourth quarter and $219 million in performance-linked dividends, a mechanism calculated based on free cash flow that was introduced following bumper profits following the Ukraine war.

Total dividends paid for the year were $85.5 billion, down from $124 billion in 2024, with total dividends of $87.6 billion expected for 2026.

ARAMCO FORECASTS CAPEX OF $50 BLN TO $55 BLN THIS YEAR

Aramco has long been a cash cow for the Saudi state, which relies on fossil fuels for more than half of government revenues. The kingdom directly owns nearly 81.5% of the company and its sovereign investor, the Public Investment Fund, holds another 16% of shares.

Total revenue for the year fell 7.2% to $415.8 billion, on weaker prices for crude oil, as well as refined and chemical products.

Its gearing ratio - a measure of indebtedness — dropped to 3.8% at the end of 2025, down from 4.5% at the end of 2024.

Capital expenditure was $50.1 billion for the year, a margin below 2024, with the company guiding for 2026 capital expenditures in the range of $50 billion to $55 billion.

JPMorgan analysts said in a note the guidance signals that 2026 will mark peak spending on current opportunities.

Aramco said it realised $5.3 billion in value from AI, digital and other solutions in 2025, and targets another $3 billion to $5 billion this year.

PRODUCTION UP AS GLOBAL OIL DEMAND SET TO HIT RECORD

Hydrocarbon liquids production increased by 1 million barrels per day year-on-year in the fourth quarter, Nasser told analysts. He added that the company expects its ongoing gas expansion projects to yield an additional 1 million bpd of high-value associated liquids by 2030.

"Following another year of record oil demand in 2025, we believe ongoing investments in our operations position us well for the future," Nasser said in a statement.

Global oil demand is expected to reach a record high of 107.3 million bpd in 2026, increasing by 1.1 million bpd primarily driven by transport fuels and petrochemicals, Nasser said. Incremental demand from the first to third quarter will keep the market tightly balanced, he added.

Aramco's total hydrocarbon production was 12.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 12.4 million boepd in 2024. Total reserves fell to 247.2 billion boe in 2025 from 250 boe in 2024. Of that, crude oil and condensate reserves dropped by more than 3 billion barrels to 186.5 billion barrels.

($1 = 3.7534 riyals)