News in Brief
Aramco Q2 profits drop 38%
AFP – Oil firm Saudi Aramco on Monday announced profits of $30.08 billion for the second quarter, a sharp fall from the same period last year when prices surged after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The 38-percent year-on-year decline “mainly reflected the impact of lower crude oil prices and weakening refining and chemicals margins”, the largely state-owned company said in a statement published on the Saudi stock exchange.
Novak: Global oil demand to grow by 2.4m bpd
TASS – The global oil demand has recovered after the coronavirus pandemic and will grow this year by 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
“By the way, we see now the maximal growth of the demand; the record-high indicators. We have recovered after the pandemic above the 2019 level of oil consumption globally. This stands at 102.4m bpd In other words, incremental growth will be about 2.4m barrels a day,” Novak said.
HSBC official apologises for saying UK ‘weak’ over China
REUTERS – HSBC’s head of public affairs apologised after reportedly saying that Britain had been “weak” for going along with U.S. demands to curtail business dealings with China.
Sherard Cowper-Coles, a former diplomat, told a closed-door event in June that Britain would often bow to the demands of Washington and should look after its own interests.