DUBAI (AP/Reuters) — Saudi oil giant Aramco on Sunday reported it made $121 billion in profit last year, down from its 2022 record due to lower energy prices.

Aramco made the announcement in a filing in Riyadh’s Tadawul stock market.

It had reported a $161 billion profit in 2022, likely the largest ever reported by a publicly traded company.

“The decrease mainly reflects the impact of lower crude oil prices and lower volumes sold, and weakening refining and chemicals margins,” the company said in its filing.

The energy giant had planned a conference call Monday to discuss its results.

Aramco reported overall revenue of $440 billion last year, down from $535 billion in 2022.

“Our resilience and agility contributed to healthy cash flows and high levels of profitability, despite a backdrop of economic headwinds,” said Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser in a statement.

Aramco, formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co, put its output at 12.8 million barrels of oil a day. The company has been ordered by the Saudi government to keep its production there despite earlier plans to increase output.

Saudi Arabia, a leader in the OPEC cartel, has allied with Russia and others outside of the group to try to keep production down to boost global oil prices. Benchmark Brent crude traded under $82 a barrel on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia’s vast oil resources, located close to the surface of its desert expanse, make it one of the world’s least expensive places to produce crude. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hopes to use the oil wealth to pivot the kingdom off oil sales, such as with his planned $500 billion futuristic desert city, called Neom, and other projects, as part of overall economic diversification.

Meanwhile, activists criticised the profits amid global concerns about the burning of fossil fuels accelerating climate change.

DIVIDEND BOOSTED

At the same time, Aramco boosted its dividends by 30 per cent to $97.8 billion last year despite the fall in net profit, which was still the company's second-highest on record.

Aramco declared a base dividend, paid regardless of results, of $20.3 billion for the fourth quarter, to be paid this quarter. It approved a $10.8 billion performance-linked dividend, the third such payout. Both dividends were increased from the previous quarter.

The company said capital investments were at $49.7 billion in 2023, including $42.2 billion in organic capital expenditure. That was up from $38.8 billion in capital investments and $37.6 billion organic capex in 2022.

It forecast capital investments between $48 billion and $58 billion this year, growing until the middle of the decade.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government’s order to scrap its expansion plan to boost production capacity to 13 million barrels a day (mbpd), returning to the previous 12 mbpd target, as Aramco said it "is expected to reduce capital investment by approximately $40 billion between 2024 and 2028."

Its free cash flow fell to $101.2 billion in 2023 from $148.5 billion in 2022.