Saudi Aramco lifts adjusted third-quarter profit 9% to $31.2bn despite Houthi attacks

Quarterly results

Saudi Aramco announced on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, an adjusted net income of $31.2 billion for July to September, up 9% from $28.6 billion in the same quarter of 2025. Reported net income reached 135.9 billion riyals ($36.2 billion), a rise of 34.6% from about 101 billion riyals a year earlier. Operating cash flow climbed to $38.7 billion, while adjusted downstream EBIT rose 234.0% year on year on higher refining margins. The board also declared a base dividend of $21.9 billion for the third quarter, 3.5% above the year before, payable in the fourth quarter.

Q3 202528.6

Q3 202631.2

Q3 2025

28.6 $ billion

Q3 2026

31.2 $ billion

Data from the article text

Prices and attacks on the network

Aramco credited the result to higher prices for refined oil products and chemicals, along with a larger volume of crude sales. Output has been reduced by the war with Iran, now in its ninth month, yet higher prices offset the lost barrels. Houthi forces intensified attacks at the end of September, responding to bombing by a Riyadh-led alliance that backs Yemen's government. Targets included facilities at Yanbu, the end point of the East-West pipeline, refineries in western Saudi Arabia, a significant oilfield and the company's headquarters. The kingdom kept exporting throughout.

Amin H. Nasser, Aramco's president and chief executive, described the quarter as one shaped by strain on global energy supply.

“Geopolitical uncertainty and attacks on key energy facilities continued to amplify the global energy supply crisis in the third quarter of 2026”

Nasser also said the company continues to explore additional overseas storage capacity and alternative export routes.

Exports through the Strait of Hormuz

In September Aramco expanded crude loadings from Ras Tanura on the Gulf coast to win back buyers in Asia. It shipped through the Strait of Hormuz after attacks on the East-West pipeline weakened the alternative Red Sea route. Exports through the contested strait nonetheless remained strong during the quarter. Iranian attacks on shipping in the strait raised concerns about supply security. Brent rose more than 40% during the quarter to an average above $90 a barrel, and it passed $100 by mid-September.

Oil prices and the market

Brent fell 11% to $103.28 a barrel on Monday, 2 November, after Donald Trump reportedly said he was willing to give diplomacy more time. On the morning of Tuesday, 3 November, it climbed $2.38 to $107.15, a gain of 2.2%, after the United States reportedly launched limited strikes on Qeshm Island on the night of 2 November. Before the war began on 28 February, Brent traded around $72 a barrel, so prices remain well above their pre-war level.