Saudi Aramco said on Sunday it achieved "record" profits totalling $161.1 billion last year, its highest annual profits as a listed company. In a statement announcing 2022 results, Aramco said the achievements were "underpinned by stronger crude oil prices, higher volumes sold and improved margins for refined products, while the Company continues to strengthen its oil and gas production capacity, as well as its downstream portfolio, to meet anticipated future demand." For his part, Aramco President & CEO Amin H. Nasser said the company delivered record financial performance in 2022, as oil prices strengthened due to increased demand around the world. "We also continued to focus on our long-term strategy, building both capacity and capability across the value chain with the aim of addressing energy security and sustainability," he added. Nasser stressed that the company's focus is not only on expanding oil, gas and chemicals production, but also "investing in new lower-carbon technologies with potential to achieve additional emission reductions — in our own operations and for end users of our products.” Aramco’s net income increased by 46.5% to a record $161.1 billion in 2022, compared to $110.0 billion in 2021. The increase in net income reflects stronger crude oil prices, higher volumes sold and improved margins for refined products. Q4 2022 net income is in line with analyst estimates, excluding certain non-cash items of around $3.3 billion. Also, Free cash flow* reached a record $148.5 billion in 2022, compared to $107.5 billion in 2021. In its statement, the company said it continues to emphasize a strong balance sheet and its gearing ratio at the end of 2022 was -7.9%, compared to 12.0% at the end of 2021. Aramco also completed an energy infrastructure deal in February 2022 resulting in a consortium of investors, led by BlackRock Real Assets and Hassana Investment Company, acquiring a 49% stake in a newly formed subsidiary, Aramco Gas Pipelines Company (AGPC), for $15.5 billion. In 2022, Aramco’s average hydrocarbon production was 13.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmboed), including 11.5 million barrels per day (mmbpd) of total liquids. It continued its strong track record of supply reliability by delivering crude oil and other products with 99.9% reliability in 2022. It was the third year running that Aramco achieved this level of reliability. "Upstream continues to execute its growth plans to promote long-term productivity of Saudi Arabia’s reservoirs and is proceeding with implementing the Government’s mandate to increase Aramco’s crude oil MSC to 13.0 mmbpd by 2027." Construction and engineering activities for the Marjan and Berri crude oil increments continue to progress, and are expected to add production capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 250,000 bpd, respectively, by 2025. The Zuluf crude oil increment is in the engineering phase, and is expected to provide a central facility to process a total of 600,000 bpd of crude oil from the Zuluf field by 2026. Construction activities are also continuing on the Dammam development project, which is expected to add 25,000 bpd and 50,000 bpd of crude oil by 2024 and 2027, respectively. Compression projects at the Haradh and Hawiyah fields commenced commissioning activities and full capacity is expected to be reached in 2023. Construction at the Hawiyah Unayzah Gas Reservoir Storage, the first underground natural gas storage project in the Kingdom, is at an advanced stage and has commenced injection activities. The program is designed to provide up to 2.0 billion standard cubic feet per day of natural gas for reintroduction into the Kingdom’s Master Gas System by 2024. Aramco announced its final investment decision to participate in the development of a major integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in northeast China. The project presents an opportunity for Aramco to supply up to 210,000 bpd of crude oil feedstock to the complex. The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.