Saudi oil giant Aramco on Tuesday announced a 34.6% surge in third-quarter net profit, as the Middle East war keeps crude prices soaring while the kingdom's energy infrastructure comes under regular attack.
Yemen's Houthis have targeted Saudi tankers, pipelines, storage facilities and refineries regularly since hostilities resumed in July, intensifying their strikes in recent weeks.
The kingdom has also had to contend with the Houthis and Iran hampering traffic in the straits of Bab al-Mandeb and Hormuz, complicating exports.
Yet Aramco -- the cornerstone of Saudi Arabia's economy and one of the world's most valuable companies -- saw its profits soar during the third quarter thanks in large part to stubbornly high oil prices.
The firm said net profit hit 135.9bn riyals ($36.2bn) in the third quarter, compared with around 101bn riyals in the same period a year earlier.
The results come as energy majors around the world have seen earnings surge because of disruptions to oil and gas supplies in the Middle East, pushing up refining margins and prices.
But Aramco's boss warned that the conflict continued to weigh heavily on energy security.
"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 CEO Amin H Nasser said in a statement.
Stripping out exceptional items, adjusted net income came in at 116.9bn riyals.
The median analyst consensus for third-quarter adjusted net income was $30.66bn, according to an external estimate based on 12 analysts forecasts.
In the second quarter, Aramco reported a 44% year-on-year increase in net profit to 122.6bn riyals.
Nasser later noted in an earnings call that preliminary engineering had started on the planned expansion of the kingdom's vital East-West pipeline that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz and move millions of barrels of crude from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea daily.
The work on the pipeline was part of overall efforts to expand the kingdom's network of routes to export oil.
Nasser said last month that they hoped to increase the capacity of the pipeline network from 7mn to 10mn barrels a day.
The Middle East war, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, has upended global energy markets, led to the widespread drawing down of strategic reserves and spurred inflation.
And while the war rages in the Gulf, Ukrainian drones have also battered Russian energy infrastructure, prompting Moscow to ban the export of certain products -- notably petrol and diesel.
Last month, the Houthis said they targeted Aramco's headquarters, a vast complex comprising numerous buildings and residential compounds in the kingdom's east.
Nasser said the company was able to respond rapidly to attacks on its infrastructure, using drones and specially trained teams to address damage at facilities.
"More than 90% of the material used to restore operations have been sourced here in the kingdom," he added, saying Aramco is able to carry out emergency repairs faster than the industry benchmark.
With the Strait of Hormuz contested, US military naval escorts have enabled millions of barrels of crude to pass through the crucial waterway each day.
Last month, US Central Command said it had helped Gulf countries export more than 1.5bn barrels of crude oil through the strait since the summer, and facilitated the passage of more than 3,000 commercial vessels over the past six months.
The increase in Gulf exports, however, has done little to prevent market volatility.
Oil prices tumbled more than seven percent on Monday, as signs that Tehran and Washington were renewing dialogue boosted hopes of ending the Middle East war.
Back in the kingdom, months of uncertainty have added to economic headwinds.
Despite government revenues coming in above initial forecasts, Saudi Arabia has revised up its projected budget deficit for 2026 to 245bn riyals, or 4.9% of gross domestic product, from an initial forecast of 165bn riyals.
Government spending is expected to exceed initial projections by 9.3%, while the finance ministry forecasts the Saudi economy will contract by 3.6% in 2026, driven by a 21.8% decline in oil-related activity.
The IMF expects Saudi Arabia to end the year with a 3.3% contraction in GDP, five percentage points lower than its previous forecast in July.
