That company is the saudio oil giant saudi aramco, and its feeling the effects of lower oil prices, lower than expected demand from china, and thinner Profit Margins for refining oil. Between april and june, the company made a Profit Ofjust over 30 billion, lot of money by anyone s metric, but significantly down from more than the 48 billion it made in the same period a year ago. The main reason is, as you can see here, that oil prices during the period were at the lowest point in the last year, as the boost they got from russias invasion of ukraine wore off. And last week, in an effort to keep them that way, saudi arabia said it would only produce nine Million Barrels a day. That extended Production Cuts by the 0pec group of big oil producers, who profit more from a higher price. When it comes to saudi aramco, those higher prices mean higher Dividend Payments for shareholders, and its boosted those to nearly 30 billion in the current period. So i put it to our middle east Business Cor
Earlier, i spoke to dr matt patterson, whos a Postdoctoral Research assistant in Atmospheric Physics at the University Of Oxford and has been following the winter heatwave. He said this is not a common occurance. Its really quite unusual to see a heatwave of this magnitude in the winter. As you said, weve seen temperatures of 38 degrees in some andes towns when we would expect to see temperatures of 10 15 degrees at this time of year. So really quite unprecedented. In terms of the magnitude, 20 degrees more than average, thats comparable with Summer Heatwaves that weve seen in the southern United States, Southern Europe and china this year. Can you explain in basic terms what exactly is causing this heatwave in winter . Certainly. Its a High Pressure system just to the east of the andes, which is basically dragging warm air down from the tropics and bringing that heat down towards chile and argentina. That High Pressure is also compressing the air, much like when you pump up a bike tyr
you can see there across shetland. so it is going to turn increasingly windy further south, a significantly weaker weather system, but feeding a lot of cloud eastwards across wales into the midlands, eventually east anglia, certainly southern counties of england, quite murky around some of the coasts, some spots of drizzle. but much of northern england, northern ireland and scotland seeing sunny spells some showers into northeast scotland and wind gusts of 50 miles per hour or more in shetland where temperatures will only get to 12 degrees elsewhere, 17 to 20. so still a touch below par for the time of year. elsewhere, 17 to 20. so still a touch below par for the time of year. now into wednesday, i think we ll see quite a lot of cloud, a bit of mist and murk for coasts and hills and some spots of drizzle tending to feed north eastwards. but some spells of sunshine to you eastern and northern parts. seeing the best of that, turning a little bit warmer for most of us. in fact, maybe up t
and some gales the winds are starting to pick up here through the night. elsewhere, the winds will be lighter. we ll see some clear spells, the odd shower and there is a zone of cloud rolling in from the west. bits of pieces of rain, bits of murk through the morning, turning muqqy of murk through the morning, turning muggy here as well. another fairly chilly night. for tomorrow, muggy here as well. another fairly chilly night. fortomorrow, our deep blow continues to swell. it is going to turn increasingly windy. a significantly weaker weather system but feeling a lot of cloud eastwards across wales into the midlands and eventually east anglia. some spots of drizzle but much of northern england seeing some sunny spells. some showers into scotland. temperatures will only get to 12