During his participation in a virtual discussion session at the Sierra Energy Week 2021 conference, Saudi Aramco President and Chief Executive Officer, Eng. Amin Hassan Al-Nasser, expressed his optimism about the improvement in demand for oil and thus its prices in the international markets.

On the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on Saudi Aramco, Engineer Al-Nasser said: “We faced the biggest crisis in a century, but our business sector got used to difficult circumstances thanks to our focus on flexibility that gave us the ability to adapt to ensure a rapid response.”

He added, “The Coronavirus pandemic revealed harsh facts to the world, as there was a significant impact on small and medium-sized companies, and that impact extended to employment, which raises long-term concern about the high unemployment rate.”

The Aramco president expressed his optimistic view about the market conditions in the near term, saying: “Demand is witnessing a strong increase from China and East Asia, while it has reached pre-pandemic levels in India, and despite the impact on the West and the United States of America, the distribution of vaccines is now what makes me optimistic. “

Al-Nasser reviewed the Kingdom’s efforts to reduce the percentage of harmful emissions to the environment, and pointed out that environmental, social and governance issues were and still constitute a significant part of Saudi Aramco’s strategy.

He explained that Aramco had established in the 1970s its main gas collection system. This system has contributed to drastically reducing the quantities of

gas which used to be wasted by flaring in the air, and the system alone has contributed to the disposal of 100 million tons of carbon dioxide every year since its inception.