RIYADH: Saudi Aramco is the world’s most profitable company in the third quarter, beating tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Apple, as well as other listed energy companies such as ExxonMobil and Shell, Arab News reported.

Thanks to the recent increase in oil prices, the Dhahran-based company reported that its net income in the third quarter increased 158 per cent from a year ago to SR114 billion ($30.4 billion), compared with $11.8 billion a year ago, with a jump in it sales by 80 per cent to SR359 billion ($96 billion).

Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser, said in a statement: “Our exceptional third quarter performance was the result of increased economic activity in key markets and a rebound in energy demand, as well as our unique low-cost position, our financial discipline and our proven ability to reliably deliver essential energy and chemical products to our customers.”

“Some headwinds still exist for the global economy, partly due to supply chain bottlenecks, but we are optimistic that [the] energy demand will remain healthy for the foreseeable future,” he added.

“Looking ahead, we are maintaining our strategy to invest for the long-term, and we will build on our track record of low-cost and low-carbon intensity performance to advance our recently announced ambition to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions across our wholly-owned operated assets by 2050.”