Saudi chemical giant records rare loss as prices sag

Saudi petrochemicals giant Sabic said on Wednesday it posted a rare loss in the fourth quarter of last year, due to low prices and the allocation of a huge emergency provision.
Sabic, the second-largest listed firm in the kingdom after oil giant Aramco, said it posted a loss of $192 million in the last three months of 2019 after its revenues fell by 18.5 per cent.
The company, in which Aramco acquired a 70 per cent stake for $69 billion last year, said it has also made a $747 million impairment provision in support of one of its affiliates which is undergoing restructuring.
Sabic posted a profit of $859 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.
"Despite an uptick in Brent oil prices in the fourth quarter, the results were negatively impacted by a further decline in petrochemical prices driven by oversupply in the key products and slowing global growth coupled with seasonal impacts," the company said in a statement.
For the whole of 2019, Sabic net profit dropped a massive 74 per cent, the company said, also citing lower prices and allocation of emergency provisions.
The company said it posted a net profit of $1.5 billion in 2019 compared to $5.74 billion in the previous year.
Its revenues dropped almost 19 per cent to $32.5 billion last year from $40.1 billion in 2018.
"The petrochemical industry was negatively impacted in 2019 by additional new supply in key products coming on-stream coupled with a moderation in global growth compared to 2018," Sabic CEO Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan said in a statement.
- AFP