London, March 12 (IANS): Saudi oil giant Aramco has announced a record profit of $161.1 bn for 2022, helped by soaring energy prices and bigger volumes, media reports said.

It represents a 46.5 per cent rise for the state-owned company, compared with last year, BBC reported.

It is the latest energy firm to report record profits, after energy prices spiked following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

America's Exxon Mobil made $55.7 bn, and Britain's Shell reported $39.9 bn, BBC reported.

Aramco also declared a dividend of $19.5 billion for the October to December quarter of 2022, to be paid in the first quarter of this year.

Most of that dividend amount will go to the Saudi Arabian government, which owns nearly 95 per cent of the shares in the company.

Brent crude oil, the benchmark oil price, now trades at around $82 a barrel - though prices exceeded $120 a barrel in March after Russia's invasion, and June.

"Aramco rode the wave of high energy prices in 2022," said Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, BBC reported. "It would have been difficult for Aramco not to perform strongly in 2022."

In a statement on Sunday, Aramco said the company results were "underpinned by stronger crude oil prices, higher volumes sold and improved margins for refined products".

Aramco's President and CEO Amin Nasser said: "Given that we anticipate oil and gas will remain essential for the foreseeable future, the risks of underinvestment in our industry are real - including contributing to higher energy prices."

To address those challenges, he said, the company would not only focus on expanding oil, gas and chemicals production - but would also invest in new lower-carbon technologies, BBC reported.