Saudi Arabia’s Financial Woes Mean It’s Squeezing Cash Cow Aramco
- Aramco freezes projects as it prioritizes $75 billion dividend
- Oil’s crash to $40 a barrel heaps more pressure on the company
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The world’s biggest oil company is getting squeezed by its main shareholder, the Saudi Arabian government.
Even with crude dropping to $40 a barrel this week and its cash flow plunging, Saudi Aramco is trying to pay a $75 billion dividend this year, almost all of it to the state. Concerns are mounting, including among global fund managers who bought into the company during a record initial public offering last December, that Aramco is putting strategic projects on ice and racking up debt too quickly.