Aramco more resilient to oil slump than listed oil majors: report

State-owned Saudi Aramco is more resilient to oil price slumps than its biggest listed rivals, Reuters reported on Monday, citing its 2016 accounts.

The oil giant's full-year accounts show its net income fell by about 21 percent to $13.3 billion in 2016 when a global glut pushed oil prices to a 12-year low of $27.10 a barrel.

By comparison, the net income of Exxon Mobil Corp, the world’s largest listed oil company, dropped 51 percent in 2016 to $7.8 billion, while the earnings attributable to shareholders of Royal Dutch Shell, the No.2 listed oil firm, fell 37 percent to $3.5 billion, excluding items. 

Meanwhile, Aramco’s ability to better weather price shocks was down to low production costs, the report said.

Aramco produces around 10 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil compared with Exxon’s and Shell’s oil equivalent of 4 million bpd and 3.7 million bpd, respectively.

The Saudi oil major also did well on cash flow from operations, with net cash from operating activities rising about 21 percent to $29 billion in 2016. It realized an average price of $40.68 on its crude oil exports in 2016, but down from $49.46 in 2015, the accounts showed. Revenue was $135 billion, down from $146 billion in 2015.

In April, Bloomberg reported Aramco had net income of $33.8 billion in the first six months of 2017, up from $7.2 billion in the first of half of 2016, as oil prices spiked and as the Saudi government changed the tax rate.