By reporting a 44.6% decrease in profits in Q3 2020, Aramco has put a major damper on Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification strategies and overall stability. Saudi Aramco reported that its Q3 2020 profits decreased to Riyal 44.21 billion ($11.79 billion) from Riyal 79.84 billion ($21.29 billion) in Q3 2019. Worryingly, even those disappointing financials were helped by several royalty changes that boosted profits. The results from OPEC’s largest oil producer contradict the optimism being expressed by the oil cartel’s leaders in the media. While the results are arguably better than those reported by IOCs such as Shell, BP, Total, and Chevron, they are still very disappointing. The upcoming Q4 results are expected the be even lower. It is now apparent that Saudi Arabia is in serious economic trouble. Looking at this most recent report, it becomes very difficult to justify the optimism expressed by OPEC+ during the last JMCC […]