New Delhi: Oil giant Saudi Aramco surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable company on Wednesday, according news reports.


Surging crude oil prices have propelled shares of the world’s largest oil exporter to a record high.


Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas firm, was valued at $2.42 trillion. On the other hand, i-phone maker Apple has seen a dip in its share price over the past month. It was valued at $2.37 trillion. The respective figures, however, are based on the share prices during the time of market closing on Wednesday.


Saudi Aramco logged a 124 per cent rise in its net profit in last year from $49.0 billion in 2020 to $110.0 billion in 2021.


Apple, on the other hand, might have witnessed share prices sinking, however, the profits in the first three months of this year were better than expected. The company, however, expects June quarter results to dent by $4-8 billion because of the ongoing supply crisis and the Covid-19 lockdown in China.


Apple said that it is struggling to get enough chips to meet demand and contending with Covid-induced lockdowns at factories in China. Its CEO Tim Cook said, “It will affect most of the product categories.”


The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has also put pressure on Saudi Aramco to raise production. Subsequent Western sanctions on Russia had made the global energy market volatile. The president of the oil giant said that the company’s outlook remained uncertain amid geopolitical tensions.


Inflation will rise as more as oil prices soar, forcing the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.


According to analysts, with higher interests, investors will discount the value of future revenue flows from tech firms because of company costs and supply chain woes. This will trigger a dip in their stocks. While inflation will rise the cost of oil, it could also cause a decline in consumption, reducing oil demand.