Aramco optimistic about long-term financial return on increased output capacity: official

The increase in the maximum sustainable capacity will give Saudi Aramco an additional competitive advantage in the energy markets, company senior vice president of Finance, Strategy and Development Khalid H. Al-Dabbagh told Al-Arabiya.

"We are optimistic about the long-term financial return from boosting the maximum level of sustainable production capacity," he noted.

Last week, Saudi Aramco received a directive from the Ministry of Energy to increase its maximum sustainable capacity to 13 million barrels per day (mbpd) from 12 mbpd.

The oil giant is also set to supply its customers with 12.3 mbpd of crude oil in April, an increase of 300,000 barrels per day from the maximum sustained capacity of 12 mbpd.

Elsewhere, Al Dabbagh said that the total size of the company’s dividend distribution for 2019 exceeds SAR 274 billion, which is considered higher than dividends distributed by any listed firm in the world.