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JAPAN
<strong>Olympic sponsors weigh ties</strong>
Corporate sponsors of the Tokyo Olympic Games have hired consulting firms to advise them on whether to push ahead with Olympic-themed marketing plans or limit their association with an event that could damage their brands, the Financial Times reported. The consultants include Kantar Group from the UK and two Japan-based firms, Macromill Inc and Intage Holdings, it said, citing unidentified people. More than 60 Japanese firms, such as Toyota Motor Corp and beverage maker Asahi Group Holdings Ltd, have together paid more than US$3 billion to sponsor the Games. CHINA
<strong>Data security law passed</strong>
Beijing yesterday passed a data
Aramco’s Q1 profits jump 30 percent
AFP, RIYADH
Energy giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) yesterday said that its first-quarter profits jumped 30 percent from a year earlier on the back of higher oil prices.
“Aramco’s net income was US$21.7 billion for the first quarter, a 30 percent increase from US$16.7 billion in Q1 2020, primarily driven by a stronger oil market, and higher refining and chemicals margins, partly offset by lower production,” the company said in a statement.
The news follows consecutive falls in quarterly profits last year owing to low oil prices and production cuts, as the COVID-19 pandemic sapped global energy demand.
New DR Congo state buyer seeks cobalt price power
Bloomberg
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), the world’s main source of vital battery ingredient cobalt, is also one of the poorest nations. While it is dominated by huge industrial mines, about one-fifth of its silvery-blue metal is still hand-dug, in often unregulated and dangerous conditions.
Jean-Dominique Takis Kumbo, the head of the new state cobalt buyer, is determined to change that.
His Entreprise Generale du Cobalt (EGC) is to have a monopoly on all hand-dug cobalt in the central African country, giving it power to improve working conditions and potential control of nearly 15 percent of the world’s production.
03:00 pm
PTI
New Delhi, Feb 23 (PTI) Billionaire Mukesh Ambani s Reliance Industries has announced the contours of carving out of its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business into an independent unit with a USD 25 billion loan from the parent, as it looks to unlock value by selling stakes to global investors like Saudi Aramco.
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The reorganisation will enable the focused pursuit of opportunities across the O2C value chain, improve efficiencies through self-sustaining capital structure and a dedicated management team, and attract dedicated pools of investor capital, according to a company presentation filed with the stock exchanges.