Aramco Q2 Net Profit Jumps 44% as Hormuz Blockade Lifts Crude
Saudi Aramco reported a 44% year-on-year rise in second-quarter net profit on August 4, 2026, at 122.6 billion Saudi riyals, or EUR 28.4 billion, against 85 billion riyals, or EUR 19.7 billion, a year earlier.
The increase came as the war against Iran, launched at the end of February by the United States and Israel, pushed Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation. About one fifth of world hydrocarbon consumption normally passes through the strait.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 0.6% at USD 84.27 a barrel, or EUR 73.2, with US West Texas Intermediate up 0.49% at USD 80.73, or EUR 70.2, at around 1 a.m. in Lisbon. Brent briefly cleared USD 100 a barrel, or EUR 86.90, at the end of July.
The profit figure is the clearest read so far on how the shipping disruption has repriced barrels for buyers in North America, the United Kingdom, and Asia. Higher oil prices driven by the war in the Middle East drove the earnings jump, according to the reporting by Observador and Sapo.
Aramco chief executive Amin H. Nasser pointed to what he called unprecedented disruption to supply through the Strait of Hormuz, and said the company continued to demonstrate its capacity to keep operations running. The company delivered millions of barrels of crude a day to markets via its East-West pipeline, which links its energy installations in the Gulf to export terminals on the Red Sea.
That routing has come under separate pressure. In July, Yemen's Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, announced a maritime blockade against their Saudi opponents in the Red Sea. The pipeline that bypasses Hormuz terminates in the same waters the Houthis have targeted.
The diplomatic track remains unresolved. US President Donald Trump said on Monday that negotiations with Iran were under way "at this precise moment" and represented the country's last chance at a good deal, despite a denial from Tehran shortly beforehand.
For refiners and industrial buyers pricing off Brent and WTI, the gap between the late-July spike above USD 100 and the current USD 84.27 print marks how much of the war premium has come out of the curve without the underlying blockade being lifted. The two benchmarks moved in the same direction on the day, with Brent's 0.6% gain slightly ahead of WTI's 0.49%.
Aramco's quarterly gain of 37.6 billion riyals over the year-earlier period, from 85 billion to 122.6 billion, shows the producer side of that repricing. Buyers dependent on Hormuz transit face the other side of it, with roughly a fifth of global hydrocarbon flows normally routed through a waterway Tehran has blocked.
Whether the premium returns depends on the outcome of the talks Trump described and on whether the Houthi blockade in the Red Sea holds against Aramco's alternative export route.