Nonetheless, the oil company has been optimistic about the future: it maintained its $ 75 billion dividend for the year, and the company believes it will return to pre-pandemic oil production levels by the end of 2021.
Saudi Aramco’s president and CEO Amin Nasser said during a phone call with reporters that he is very optimistic about 2021, and expects the company to reach nearly 99 million barrels per day by the end of the year. He said these outlooks are based on the views of various global entities and agencies, and he predicted demand will increase in 2022.
“Using vaccines will make the situation much better,” he added.
“As the tremendous impact of Covid-19 was felt in the global economy, we intensified our strong emphasis on capital and operational efficiency,” said Nasser.
The revenue report comes at a time when Saudi Aramco refineries are dealing with drone strikes from Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
“Our reliability in 2020 despite Covid-19 and these attacks on various parts of our facilities in the north and south and in Ras Tanura has been 99.9% lately,” said Nasser. “It is even higher than in previous years.”
It is a further demonstration of the robust crisis management and continuity plans we have. “
– CNN’s John Defterios contributed to this report.