Saudi Aramco profits soar 82% following oil price surge days after overtaking Apple as most valuable company

• Saudi Aramco records 82% jump in profit for the first quarter to $39.5 billion.
• Oil and gas giant's results come days after overtaking Apple as the world's most valuable company.

Saudi Aramco has posted an 82% jump in quarterly profit following a surge in oil prices.

The state-owned energy company reported a $39.5 billion profit for the first three months of the year, up from $21.7 billion for the same period last year.

The huge increase was driven by higher crude oil and gas prices along with a production increase, Aramco said on Sunday.

The company's highest profit since listing in 2019 comes days after it overtook Apple to become the world's most valuable company.

Shares rose a further 4.7 per cent on Sunday to leave Aramco worth $2.64 trillion. Apple was worth $2.38 trillion at Friday's close.

Oil and gas prices have risen sharply since Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, which triggered sanctions against Russia and has sparked further supply chain disruption.

US oil was trading at $110 a barrel on Saturday, with Brent crude about $111 a barrel.

Earlier this month Shell posted quarterly profits of $9.1 billion - almost three times higher than the first quarter of last year and the highest figure since 2008.

Rival BP recorded a decade-high quarterly profit of $6.2 billion, but took a $25 billion hit from exiting its Russian joint venture following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this month Aramco slashed the price of Arab Light crude in Asia from $9.35 to $4.40 a barrel to help ease rising energy costs for buyers.

Aramco's chief executive, Amin Nasser, said the company aimed to provide affordable and reliable energy supplies despite "increased volatility" in global markets.

"Energy security is vital and we are investing for the long term, expanding our oil and gas production capacity to meet anticipated demand growth and creating long-term shareholder value by capitalizing on our low lifting cost, low upstream carbon intensity, and integrated downstream business," Nasser said in Aramco's statement.

The chief of the world's largest oil producer said it had expanded its downstream efforts in Asia and Europe.

Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.