Saudi Aramco’s net profit soared 124 per cent last year as global growth recovered from the Covid-19 downturn, the oil giant announced on Sunday.

“Aramco’s net income increased by 124% to $110 billion in 2021, compared to $49.0 billion in 2020,” the company said in a statement.

The oil giant achieved a net income of $88.2 billion in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic hit global markets, resulting in huge losses for the energy and aviation sectors, among others.

A strong rebound last year saw demand for oil increase and prices recover from their 2020 lows, and Brent crude has lately repeatedly spiked above $100 per barrel, driven by supply concerns centred on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

One of the world’s largest producers of gas and one of the biggest oil producers, Russia is grappling with mounting Western sanctions.

“Our strong results are a testament to our financial discipline, flexibility through evolving market conditions and steadfast focus on our long-term growth strategy,” Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser said, acknowledging also that “economic conditions have improved considerably”.

Big investment plans:  CEO Nasser cautioned that the company’s outlook remained uncertain due in part to “geopolitical factors” and, in an allusion to the effect of the recent price spikes on consumers, also noted that “energy security is paramount for billions of people”.

“We (therefore) continue to make progress on increasing our crude oil production capacity, executing our gas expansion programme and increasing our liquids to chemicals capacity,” Nasser added.

Saudi Aramco’s statement said capital expenditure in 2021 was up 18 per cent on 2020 at $31.9 billion, a figure it expects to rise to approximately $40-50 billion this year, before further growth.

It also announced a dividend of $18.8 billion for the fourth quarter of 2021.

Aramco floated 1.7 per cent of its shares on the Saudi bourse in December 2019, generating $29.4 billion in the world’s biggest initial public offering.

Saudi Arabia has sought both to open up and diversify its economy, especially since Mohammed Bin Salman’s appointment as crown prince in 2017.

In February, the kingdom shifted four per cent of Aramco shares worth $80 billion to the country’s sovereign wealth fund -- a move seen as a possible prelude to further opening up the oil giant.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently discovered natural gas fields in four regions of the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported, quoting Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman.

The Energy Minister said that Saudi Aramco has discovered natural gas fields in the central area of the kingdom, in the Empty Quarter desert, near its northern border and in the eastern region.

The fields, he mentioned, are Shadoon, in the central region, Shehab and Shurfa, in the Empty Quarter, in the southeastern region, Umm Khansar, near the northern border with Iraq, and Samna, in the eastern region.

Two of the gas fields, Samna and Umm Khansar, are “non-conventional,” he said. Non-conventional deposits, also known as shale, are usually trapped in tight pore spaces, requiring special extraction techniques.