Vision 2030 might be gaining speed across the GCC, but that doesn’t mean oil has lost its shine. Saudi Arabia’s SABIC, the largest Middle East petrochemicals company, posted a significant four-fold increase in its net profits for Q3, reaching $1.5b. Revenues for the company increased by 49% — while net income jumped by almost three-fold — reaching $11.7b and $2.1b respectively. SABIC aims to put the money to good use as its joint venture chemicals project with ExxonMobil (XOM) is set to start in Q4 2021.
France-based TotalEnergies (TTE), one of the seven largest oil and gas companies globally, was also swimming in those oil gains as it reported a five-fold year-on-year increase in net income, reaching $4.8b. The company also saw a 4% increase in production due to higher OPEC quotas to fill in. Other oil firms like Shell (RDSA) weren’t as lucky, though, as it suffered from a $400m loss due to Hurricane Ida.
Why it matters
TotalEnergies and SABIC credit their figures to the recent resurgence in global demand — gas prices in Asia/Europe have seen a quarterly increase of 85%, whereas oil prices have jumped by 7%. As supply quotas increase, though, the prices might peak soon — futures for oil already dipped by 1% on Thursday.