Saudi Aramco earned $36.25 billion in net profit from July to September, 34% more than a year earlier, the company reported on Tuesday. Part of that came from a one-time gain. In September, Petronas, Aramco's partner in Malaysia, bought out the Saudi company's half of the PRefChem refinery and chemicals complex.
Adjusted net income leaves gains like that out. It came to $31.2 billion, up 9% on the year and a little better than the $30.66 billion that 12 analysts surveyed by Aramco had expected. It was still about 7% below the second quarter's $33.4 billion.
Refineries carried the quarter
Aramco's downstream arm, which turns crude into fuels and chemicals, earned $10.3 billion in adjusted earnings before interest and tax. That is 3.3 times what it made in the same quarter of 2025, and the company said it was a record. Aramco put the jump down to better refining margins, meaning the gap between what a refinery pays for crude and what it gets for the fuel it sells.
Those margins have widened sharply this year. Gulf News estimates that fighting in Russia and the Middle East has knocked out about a tenth of the world's refining capacity, and it noted that fuel exports have been slower to recover than crude exports. Refining also lifted third-quarter results at Chevron, Exxon Mobil and BP, which reported last week.
Better prices, fewer barrels
Production looked weaker. The average price Aramco realized on its crude was about 36% higher than a year ago, but about 12% lower than in the second quarter. Combined oil and gas output was 17% lower than a year earlier, at an average of 11.05 million barrels a day of oil equivalent. Liquids, mostly crude, came to 8.7 million barrels a day, down 19% from 10.8 million.
Output did pick up from the second quarter. Gulf News put the increase in liquids at about 15%. Saudi crude output is still well short of normal, though. Before the conflict began, the kingdom pumped a little over 10 million barrels a day. In September it managed about 8 million, according to the secondary sources OPEC relies on.
Aramco also tracks how reliably it delivers to customers. That score slipped to 97.8%, down from 99.9% in the third quarter of 2025 and 98.4% in April to June.
The pipeline around Hormuz
The quarter tested the pipeline that lets Saudi crude bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The East-West line has room for up to 7 million barrels a day and runs from the eastern oil fields to the Red Sea coast. It has been back in service since September 22, though not at full capacity, after a drone attack on September 11 forced it to shut. Saudi authorities said that drone came from Iraq. The Houthis have also gone after Aramco directly. A missile caused a fire at its Dhahran headquarters complex in October, and the group has claimed strikes on Ras Tanura and other oil sites.
On a call with analysts after the results, Amin Nasser, Aramco's chief executive, said early engineering work on a larger East-West line has begun. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the energy minister, set a goal last month of up to 10 million barrels a day that can leave the kingdom by pipeline. Nasser said the existing line had earned back its full construction cost in roughly 15 days during the crisis. Details of the other export routes under study will stay private until Aramco commits the money, he said.
He also pointed to the wider damage. Nasser put the number of attacks on tankers since the conflict began at more than 130, with very large crude carriers the most common target. Shipping costs have risen to more than 15 times what they were a year ago, he said. "Higher transportation costs, fertiliser shortages, and impacts on food and consumer goods are feeding into inflationary pressures across the global economy," Nasser told Reuters. "We remain ready to rapidly ramp up production when the situation calls for it."
Dividend and spending
The base dividend stays at $21.9 billion, the same as in the second quarter and 3.5% more than a year ago. Aramco can pay it out of free cash flow, the money left after running the business and paying for new projects, which reached $28.2 billion against $23.6 billion in the same quarter last year. The Saudi state owns more than 90% of Aramco, so the payout is a key source of government revenue.
Capital spending dropped to $10.5 billion from $12.6 billion. The full-year spending plan of $50 billion to $55 billion is unchanged. It already allows for repairs and a cash payment of $2.6 billion for 49% of HUMAIN, which is building AI data centers in Saudi Arabia. The Zuluf field expansion started producing in October and is due to reach as much as 600,000 barrels a day before 2026 is out.
What to watch
- Fourth-quarter prices. Brent ended October at its highest level since April, then fell 7.6% on Monday as Iran talks gained ground. At 13:56 UTC on Tuesday it was down about 2.5% again.
- New export routes. Aramco says it will name the routes after it signs off on the investment.
- OPEC+ on November 29. The full group is expected to set production targets for 2027. Saudi Arabia is pumping far below its current target.