Each 1M bpd extra output nets SAR 41B: Aramco CFO

Ziad Al-Murshed, Executive Vice President and CFO at Saudi Aramco

Ziad Al-Murshed, Executive Vice President and CFO at Saudi Aramco, said that each additional one million barrels per day (bpd) of oil produced by the oil giant over a full year would add around SAR 41 billion to its net income, based on the 2025 average oil prices.

In an interview with Asharq News, Al-Murshid said Aramco is still well-positioned to capitalize on the expected growth in global oil demand with minimal incremental costs, effectively boosting net income.

Estimates showed that global oil demand is projected to continue rising this year to an unprecedented 106 million bpd, before further growing to roughly 107 million bpd in 2026.

He explained that the challenge is not in demand levels but in the global decline in oil investments, which in turn poses an opportunity for Aramco. This is given that the Saudi-listed company still maintains an idle production capacity of nearly two million bpd, enabling it to seize additional future growth opportunities.

Al-Murshid added that both strong cash flows and a low leverage ratio underpin Aramco’s solid financial position. This in turn enhances its ability to execute growth plans, while maintaining generous and growing dividend distributions.

He noted that Aramco’s gearing ratio remains among the lowest globally at 6.3% as of Q3 2025.

On the company’s third-quarter results, Al-Murshid said that higher production volumes had a significant positive impact, as Aramco has upped output by about one million bpd while incurring almost no incremental costs.

Elsewhere, growth opportunities in the gas industry have exceeded initial expectations, the CFO pointed out. Following detailed studies to define gas reservoir ranges and optimize production efficiency, Aramco raised its gas production growth target from 60% to around 80% by 2030, compared to 2021 levels.

This gas expansion program is expected to add between SAR 45 billion and SAR 56 billion in annual operating cash flows by 2030. The impact should materialize as soon as production at the Jafurah field and the Ras Tanajib gas plant come online in Q4 2025.

According to Argaam data, Aramco's bottom line fell to SAR 278.6 billion by the end of the first nine months of 2025, compared to SAR 307.1 billion in the same period of 2024. The third-quarter earnings amounted to SAR 97.3 billion.