Saudi Aramco sees profits surge 80% amid West's sanctions on Russia over Ukraine war

Oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Sunday that its profits soared more than 80% in first three months of year. As West continues to curtail imports of Russian fuel, Saudi exporters are cashing on volatility of global markets. Notably, kingdom’s overall GDP has also skyrocketed amidst ongoing war, rising by 9.6% in first quarter of this year. monarchy owns a 98% stake in company. 

Pertaining to its gigantic profits, company overtook Apple Inc. as world’s most valuable company last week. Formerly known as Saudi Arabian Oil Co., it showed a record net income of US$3.5 billion in first quarter. firm h reported US$21.7 billion during same period last year. 

In a statement, company’s President and CEO Amin H. Nasser said, “Against backdrop of increased volatility in global markets, we remain focused on helping meet world’s demand for energy that is reliable, affordable and increasingly sustainable,” ding that Aramco was in midst of increasing its maximum production capacity to meet anticipated demand growth. He also credited company’s allies in OPEC Plus-- a group consisting of 13 OPEC members and 10 of world's major non-OPEC oil-exporting nations.

Ukraine reiterates demand for oil embargo

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to urge European Union to ban Russian oil imports despite fact that EU proposed a Russian oil embargo in its latest sanctions package. Ukraine's President's Economic viser, Oleg Ustenko stated that European Union's embargo on Russian oil imports must go into effect immediately because Ukraine "cannot afford to wait anor six months" while Russia continues to murder its civilians.

In an interview with international media outlet Project Syndicate, Ustenko stated that while Ukraine supports European Commission's plan to halt Russian crude oil imports, delaying implementation for six months is unacceptable. After all, Russian Federation relies on energy income to fund its war force. He furr said that Russia's energy exports bring in $1 billion every day, which pays for  missiles, guns and bombs. He went on to say that in light of situation, Ukraine believes Europe must act quickly.

(Image: AP)