Aramco Profit Jumps 34.5% to $36.3 Billion Despite Attacks on Its Facilities

Photo: AA via Türkiye Today, oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman (file photo)

Saudi Aramco made $36.3 billion in three months, up 34.5 percent on a year earlier, even as its tankers, pipelines and plants came under attack in a war that has pushed oil prices sharply higher. The result shows, in one set of numbers, who is gaining from the turmoil in the Gulf and who is paying for it.

Reuters reported that the world's top oil exporter earned $36.25 billion in net profit in the three months to 30 September, up from $26.9 billion in the same quarter last year and up from $32.7 billion in the second quarter of this year.

Strip out one off items and the picture is still strong. Arab News reported that adjusted net income rose 9 percent to $31.2 billion, from $28.6 billion a year earlier, beating the $30.66 billion median forecast from 12 analysts.

Two things did most of the work. First, oil prices. The Business Times reported that Brent crude surged more than 40 percent during the quarter to average over $90 a barrel, and topped $100 a barrel by the middle of September, as attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz raised supply fears. That price rise more than made up for lower output caused by the war.

Second, a sale. Aramco sold its stake in the Malaysian refining and petrochemicals venture PRefChem to Malaysia's PETRONAS in September, and the gain from that deal lifted the headline profit. Its downstream business, which turns crude into fuel and chemicals, also did far better, with adjusted earnings before interest and tax up 234 percent to $10.3 billion on stronger refining margins.

The key figures at a glance:

• Net profit, third quarter: $36.25 billion, up 34.5 percent on a year earlier
• Adjusted net income: $31.2 billion, up from $28.6 billion
• Cash flow from operations: $38.7 billion, up from $36.1 billion
• Free cash flow: $28.2 billion, up from $23.6 billion
• Base dividend for the quarter: $21.9 billion, up 3.5 percent, to be paid in the fourth quarter
• Net income for the first nine months of 2026: $101.5 billion

None of this came easily. Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said geopolitical uncertainty and attacks on key energy facilities kept amplifying the global energy supply crisis in the third quarter, with serious implications for global energy security. Yemen's Houthis have targeted Saudi tankers, pipelines, storage sites and refineries since fighting resumed in July, and last month they said they hit Aramco's headquarters complex in the kingdom's east.

The company is now trying to make its exports harder to hit. It is doing early engineering work to expand its East-West Pipeline, which carries crude from Abqaiq in the Eastern Province to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, from 7 million to 10 million barrels a day. Nasser said the pipeline's construction costs were recovered in around 15 days of use during the recent disruption, and Aramco is also looking at more storage abroad and new export routes.

For Pakistan, the result is a useful warning about where pump prices come from. Pakistan buys most of its oil from abroad, so when crude stays high, the pressure lands at the petrol station. That is the same pressure behind the petrol price cut that took effect today, petrol at Rs374.51 and diesel at Rs395.20, for one day only, and behind the row between the government and local refineries over who carries the cost. Nasser himself warned that depleted world stocks will take time to rebuild, with an extra 2 million barrels a day needed for two years just to refill inventories, and diesel stocks alarmingly low as winter approaches.

It is a strange kind of success. Aramco's profit jumped because the world is short of oil and afraid of losing more of it, the same fear that pushed oil prices down 7.6 percent on Monday when talk of a deal with Iran briefly eased that fear. As long as the war in the Gulf drags on, that tension between high producer profits and high consumer prices is not going away.

Sources

• Reuters: Aramco posts 34.5% rise in third-quarter profit
• Arab News: Aramco's Q3 net profit jumps 34.5% to $36.3bn
• The Business Times (Reuters): Saudi Aramco Q3 net profit rises 34.5% despite attacks

Watch for Aramco's next update on the East-West Pipeline expansion, and for whether high crude prices feed into Pakistan's next fuel price decision.

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