Saudi Aramco reports record profits after Russia sanctions

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Saudi Aramco reports record profits after Russia sanctions

The firm said in a press release that it had been boosted by higher prices and an increase in production.

Russia is one of the world's biggest exporters, but Western nations have pledged to cut their dependence on the country for energy.

Before the Ukraine war, oil prices were already rising as economies started to recover from the Covid epidemic and demand outstripped supply.

Other energy firms such as Shell, BP and TotalEnergies have reported soaring profits as a result, although many are incurring costs exiting operations in Russia.

Aramco's president and chief executive, Amin Nasser, said on Sunday that the company was focused on helping meet the world's demand for energy that is reliable, affordable and increasingly sustainable. In March, the oil and gas producer pledged to ramp up investment and boost output over the next five to eight years.

Boris Johnson, the world's biggest oil exporter, visited the world's biggest oil exporter that month to try to persuade it to release more oil into world markets in the short-term.

Saudi Arabia is the largest producer in the Oil Cartel Opec Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and it could help to reduce energy prices.

The country has been condemned for a number of human rights abuses, including involvement in the conflict in Yemen, murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 and widespread use of capital punishment.

Aramco is facing security challenges because of the conflict in Yemen, with Huthi rebels attacking some of its sites and temporarily knocking out a large part of the kingdom's crude production.

The latest set of results came after Aramco reclaimed the top spot as the world's most valuable company from Apple for the first time in almost two years.