Aramco held its third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 3.
The war has turned Aramco's refineries and pipelines into its biggest strengths, as record refining margins and a decades-old export route kept profits flowing while oil prices fell.
A one-off gain from selling a Malaysian refinery stake also lifted reported profit, but the real story is in how the business ran.
Refining's record: downstream earnings hit a record $10.3 billion, up 234% from a year earlier and more than $4 billion above the second quarter, Chief Financial Officer Ziad Al-Murshed said on an earnings call on Tuesday.
The war has knocked about 5 million barrels a day of fuel supply off global markets, pushing refining margins to records, President and Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said.
Aramco runs 51% of its crude through its own refineries, which let it capture those margins.
Oil still matters, just less: upstream earnings fell 9% from a year earlier to $46.8 billion. Production rose 17% from the second quarter to 11 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, but crude sold for an average of $95 a barrel.
Adjusted profit was still about 7% below the second quarter's $33.4 billion, a dip management called "relatively stable."
The pipeline that paid for itself: the East-West pipeline earned back its entire construction cost in about 15 days during the disruption, Nasser said.
Aramco is expanding it from 7 million to 10 million barrels a day and doing engineering work on other export routes. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz hasn't returned to pre-conflict levels, he added.
Spending held: 2026 capital spending guidance stays at $50 billion to $55 billion, now covering repairs to attacked facilities and the $2.6 billion cash investment in AI firm Humain.
Cash and payout: free cash flow reached $28.2 billion and gearing stayed at 5.5%. The base dividend of 82.1 billion Riyal ($21.9 billion), up 3.5% from a year earlier, will be paid on Nov. 25.
Ready to pump: Aramco could reach its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels a day in under three weeks if the government asks. Each extra million barrels a day adds $12 billion to $14 billion a year in operating cash.
What to watch: rebuilding drained global inventories could take up to two years, and diesel stocks are "alarmingly low" heading into winter, Nasser said. Aramco gives 2027 spending guidance in early March.
For more on the Malaysian sale, read Aramco Profit Got a $7 Billion Lift From a Malaysian Refinery Sale.
