The Hormuz war is boosting Aramco's earnings and dragging down Milaha's

Aramco's best earnings since 2022 — on fewer barrels

Saudi Arabia’s Aramco posted its strongest quarter since 2022 and beat every analyst on the tape. The company pumped a quarter less oil than a year ago but sold it amid a war that has stripped supply from the market and lifted its average realized crude price to USD 108.1 a barrel.

The headline carries two different numbers. Reported net income for 2Q rose 44% y-o-y to SAR 122.6 bn (USD 32.7 bn), according to Aramco’s press release (pdf). Meanwhile, adjusted net income, the figure Aramco and the sell-side track, rose 33% to USD 33.4 bn, ahead of some USD 31.6 bn consensus. Realized crude averaged USD 108.1 a barrel, up about 62% y-o-y and carrying a record premium of over USD 10 a barrel to Brent. This price surge was enough to more than offset a production decline to 9.5 mn barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 12.8 mn bbl / d a year earlier.

Why it matters: The windfall is the standout in an otherwise strained fiscal picture. Oil revenue to the government rose 22% in 2Q to nearly USD 50 bn, cutting the quarterly budget deficit to about USD 9.1 bn — the smallest in nearly two years. Aramco is underwriting a budget that its own war premium is helping to rescue, even as the same war shrinks the surrounding economy.

Downstream did the heavy lifting on margins. With Strait of Hormuz traffic down to roughly a tenth of pre-conflict levels, Aramco has leaned on its East-West pipeline to move crude to Yanbu on the Red Sea, sustaining exports it says are running near 5 mn bbl / d. Downstream adjusted EBIT roughly doubled y-o-y to USD 6.2 bn on refining margins the company expects to stay elevated through 2H.

Milaha posts a weaker 1H on regional disruptions

Regional disruptions dragged on Milaha’s earnings despite higher revenues. Qatari Maritime and logistics firm Milaha saw its net income drop 19% y-o-y to QAR 542 mn in 1H 2026, according to its financial release. The firm’s revenues jumped nearly 6% to around 1.7 bn during the same period.

Behind the numbers: The regional conflict reduced container volumes handled by Milaha’s port operations and squeezed its offshore business through lower revenues and higher operating costs. Offshore was the largest drag — with net income falling by QAR 85 mn. Maritime & Logistics recorded a QAR 16 mn decline due to a container-volume hit.