Aramco may cut govt payout as drop in oil prices hits first-quarter profits

Saudi oil giant Aramco may cut its dividend to the Saudi government, but is likely to maintain payouts to minority shareholders as a plunge in crude prices shrinks first-quarter profits, analysts said.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., as the company is formally known, pledged an annual dividend of $75 billion for the first five years to attract investors to its initial public offering in December last year.

Since then, global movement restrictions to contain the novel coronavirus have destroyed fuel demand and the oil market has been rocked by the impact of surplus supplies, as Riyadh and Moscow in April pumped flat out