The latest:
Saudi Aramco reported adjusted net income of $31.2 billion for July through September, a 9% increase over the same period last year, even after direct strikes on its facilities. Revenue rose more than 25% to $140.5 billion. The state-owned producer said its average crude realization reached $95 a barrel, 35% higher than a year earlier.
Details:
- The war backdrop: The conflict began with American and Israeli attacks on Iran and has entered its ninth month, according to The New York Times. Iran-backed Houthi fighters escalated a campaign against Saudi Arabia, disrupting shipping around the Strait of Hormuz and pushing crude prices sharply higher.
- The damage: Attacks on Riyadh’s international airport killed more than a dozen people, the newspaper reported. Missile strikes damaged Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran in eastern Saudi Arabia, two oil refineries, and a processing facility at the Abqaiq oil field.
- The pipeline hit: The most serious attack came in September, when drones struck the East-West pipeline running roughly 750 miles from the Eastern Province to Yanbu on the Red Sea. The line lets the kingdom ship millions of barrels daily while bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
- The recovery: The strike raised fears that millions of barrels would be stranded inside Saudi Arabia, but the pipeline resumed operations in under a week. Flows reached about 6 million barrels a day within weeks, and Riyadh says capacity will rise to 10 million within two to three years.
- The CEO’s framing: Chief Executive Amin Nasser said geopolitical uncertainty and attacks on major energy facilities deepened the global supply crunch in the third quarter of 2026, calling the past months an “exceptional period.” He said exports rose by 1.1 million barrels in the quarter despite the pipeline strike.
- New export routes: Nasser told investors that work to expand East-West capacity has begun and that the kingdom is exploring additional outlets, with engineering under way. He did not say where new bypass routes would run, nor give a completion timeline.
- The Suez option: Saudi Arabia has also shipped crude through a pipeline to the Mediterranean near the Suez Canal. That northern route has helped avoid Houthi attacks, but the voyage to Asian markets is far longer and more expensive.
- Diversification stalled: The attacks have disrupted the plan to shift growth toward tourism, sport and technology. Riyadh postponed its flagship Future Investment Initiative conference last month, and on Tuesday the 2027 Asian Cup, due to open on 7 January, was pushed back by roughly a year.
- Industry-wide windfall: Aramco’s results follow a wave of large earnings across the sector. The New York Times found that United States energy companies have booked more than $130 billion in profit since the war began, based on more than 50 major American oil and gas firms.
- Prices Tuesday: Crude rose above $106 a barrel after the American military struck Iran’s Qeshm Island. United States officials described the raids as limited, while President Trump said he was weighing an attack on Iran after the midterm congressional elections if no deal is reached.
Between the lines:
The quarter reads as a political ledger as much as a financial one. Riyadh absorbed strikes on its headquarters, refineries and its main bypass pipeline, yet earned more because the same war lifted its barrel to $95. The delayed investment conference and the postponed Asian Cup measure the cost the balance sheet does not show.
What’s next
Watch the American midterm elections and whether Trump orders a broader strike on Iran absent a deal, engineering decisions on new Saudi export routes, and progress toward the 10 million barrel-a-day pipeline target.
