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
Sam warburton is ruled out for six weeks, but the man favourite to be Lions Captain is expected to be fit for this summers tour to new zealand. Good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. The american Secretary Of State, Rex Tillerson, has arrived in russia ahead of tomorrows talks as tensions between the two countries continue to grow. Hes urging President Putin to withdraw his support for the assad regime in the wake of last weeks Chemical Attack on a rebel town in syria. He flew out from italy, where g7 Foreign Ministers had been meeting. They rejected a british call for new sanctions to be imposed on syria and russia. Meanwhile, President Putin has claimed that enemies of the syrian president Are Planning Future Chemical Weapons attacks to discredit the Syrian Government. This report from our Diplomatic Correspondent James Robbins contains some distressing images. Americas top diplomat, arriving in moscow, doesnt accept this is mission impossible. Rex tillerson still hopes he