Saudi Aramco's Third-Quarter Profit Rises 9% to USD 31.2 Billion Despite Iran War Disruptions and Attacks on Oil Infrastructure

Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company posted a 9 percent increase in third-quarter profit on Tuesday.

· Strong Financial Performance: Saudi Aramco reported adjusted net income of USD 31.2 billion for July–September 2026, registering a 9% increase compared with the same period last year.

· Revenue Growth: The company's third-quarter revenue increased by more than 25% to USD 140.5 billion, supported by higher crude oil prices and resilient operations.

· Higher Crude Oil Prices: Aramco's average crude oil selling price reached USD 95 per barrel, representing a 35% increase over the previous year.

· Impact of Iran War: Despite disruptions to exports and direct attacks on its energy infrastructure, Aramco maintained its financial performance through operational resilience and rapid restoration of damaged facilities.

· Attacks on Oil Infrastructure: Iranian-backed militants carried out drone and missile attacks damaging Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran, two refineries and an oil processing facility at the Abqaiq oil field.

· East-West Pipeline Attack: A major drone attack in September damaged Saudi Arabia's approximately 750-mile East-West pipeline, which connects its oil-producing Eastern Province with the Red Sea export terminal at Yanbu. The pipeline was restored within less than a week.

· Pipeline Capacity Expansion: Saudi Arabia plans to increase the East-West pipeline's capacity to 10 million barrels per day within the next two to three years. Expansion work has already commenced.

· Increased Oil Exports: Despite the disruptions, Aramco exported an additional 1.1 million barrels of crude oil in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter. Around 6 million barrels per day were transported through the East-West pipeline.

· Alternative Export Routes: Saudi Arabia is exploring additional pipeline routes to diversify oil transportation through the Red Sea and Mediterranean region and reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz.

· Global Energy Market Impact: The Iran war and attacks on key energy infrastructure have intensified global supply concerns, pushing international oil prices above USD 106 per barrel.

· Impact on Saudi Arabia's Economy: Regional instability has affected Saudi Arabia's economic diversification plans, including tourism, sports and technology. The Future Investment Initiative conference and 2027 Asian Cup have been postponed.

· Oil Industry Windfall: Aramco's strong earnings reflect the broader increase in profitability across the global oil industry amid rising crude prices and supply disruptions caused by the Iran conflict.

[ABS News Service/03.11.2026]

For Saudi Aramco, the war in Iran has brought extraordinary disruptions to its exports and damaging direct attacks on its facilities. But that has not dented the company’s bottom line.

The state-owned oil giant reported on Tuesday an adjusted net income of $31.2 billion between July and September, up 9 percent from the same period a year earlier. Revenue jumped more than 25 percent over that time, to $140.5 billion in the third quarter.

Aramco credited its performance to the resilience of operations during disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war in Iran, now in its ninth month, as well as swift recovery work after a series of drone and missile attacks by Iran-backed militants.

The company said the average price of its crude oil was $95 a barrel, 35 percent more than a year ago.

The war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran caused the price of oil to surge and brought an escalating campaign by Houthi fighters, backed by Iran, against Saudi Arabia has further escalated the crisis. Attacks on an international airport in Riyadh claimed more than a dozen lives, while missile strikes have damaged an Aramco headquarters building in the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran, two refineries and an oil processing facility at the Abqaiq oil field.

The attacks have also jeopardized Saudi Arabia’s plans to diversify its economy beyond oil and into one that can derive more growth from tourism, sports and technology. Last month the kingdom postponed its marquee investment conference, known as the Future Investment Initiative. On Tuesday the 2027 Asian Cup, which was to be hosted in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 7, has been postponed for about a year.

On Tuesday oil prices rose above $106 per barrel after the U.S. military struck Iran’s Qeshm Island. American officials described the strikes as limited, though President Trump has said he was considering an attack on Iran after the U.S. midterm elections if a diplomatic deal was not reached.

“Geopolitical uncertainty and attacks on key energy facilities continued to amplify the global energy supply crisis in the third quarter of 2026,” Amin Nasser, the chief executive of Aramco, said in a statement, calling the past months an “extraordinary period.”

Perhaps the most severe attack occurred in September when drones hit Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which stretches about 750 miles from its oil-producing Eastern Province to Yanbu, an export terminal on the Red Sea.

The pipeline is considered a lifeline because it allows the kingdom to export millions of barrels of oil a day while avoiding the Strait of Hormuz.

The attack raised fears that millions of barrels of crude would be stuck inside Saudi Arabia but the pipeline was back online in less than a week. A few weeks later about 6 million barrels of oil a day were moving through the pipeline. Saudi Arabia said it plans to expand its capacity to as much as 10 million barrels a day within two to three years.

Saudi Arabia has also used tankers navigating the Strait of Hormuz to maintain its crude exports.

On Tuesday Mr. Nasser said the company exported an additional 1.1 million barrels of crude in the third quarter of the year compared to the prior three months, despite the attack on the pipeline.

Work on expanding the East-West pipeline capacity “has already started,” Mr. Nasser said on a call with investors — and added that Saudi Arabia is exploring “additional routes” for getting crude out of the country.

In addition to exporting oil through the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia has exported oil through a pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea near the Suez Canal. The Suez route, on the north side of the Red Sea, has helped the country avoid attacks by Houthi militants, but the journey to markets in Asia is far longer and more expensive.

“We’re looking at additional routes, we’re doing the engineering at this stage,” Mr. Nasser said, but he did not offer details on where new bypasses might be.

Aramco’s results add to a wave of eye-popping earnings across the oil industry as the Iran war causes crude prices to soar — and prices to rise at the pump for consumers.

In the United States energy companies have earned more than $130 billion in profits since the start of the war, The New York Times found, based on the performance of more than 50 large U.S. oil and gas companies.