Despite the steep fall in earnings, to $6.6 billion from $24.7 billion, the company said it would continue paying a quarterly dividend of $18.75 billion, almost three times its cash flow. Saudi Aramco is locked into paying such a large amount $75 billion a year because of commitments made in the run-up to its initial public offering on the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange.
Nearly all of the dividend money will go to the Saudi government, which owns more than 98% of the company.
Continuing to pay s…

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