Saudi Aramco beat analyst estimates of its third-quarter profit as higher crude oil and fuel prices offset the impact of oil supply disruptions due to attacks on its assets.
The Saudi state oil giant on Tuesday reported an adjusted net income of $31.2 billion for the third quarter, up from $28.6 billion for the same period last year, and easily beating a $28.7-billion analyst consensus estimate compiled by Bloomberg.
Despite the attacks on the East-West onshore oil pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and other attacks on Aramco infrastructure by the Iran-backed Houthis, the Saudi oil giant boosted earnings in the third quarter from a year earlier as the Middle East conflict hiked crude oil prices and slashed refinery output and exports, which led to soaring refining margins and record-high product prices in many markets.
Aramco’s adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the downstream division soared by 234% year-on-year due to stronger refining margins. Downstream adjusted EBIT more than tripled to $10.3 billion from $3.1 billion a year earlier.
The company kept its Q3 2026 base dividend of $21.9 billion from the second quarter of 2026, which is a 3.5% increase on the year. The dividend goes mostly to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which holds more than 90% of the oil giant.
Aramco noted the threat that geopolitical uncertainty poses to global energy security and said it continues to explore options to further diversify its supply to customers.
“Geopolitical uncertainty and attacks on key energy facilities continued to amplify the global energy supply crisis in the third quarter of 2026, with serious implications for global energy security,” president and chief executive Amin Nasser said in a statement.
“We continue to explore additional overseas storage capacity and alternative export routes to further strengthen our global supply network, and our robust operational and financial performance during this volatile period demonstrates the value of our resilience.”
Aramco’s results come days after the world’s biggest international supermajors last week reported bumper earnings for the third quarter amid soaring refining margins and high oil and gas prices.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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