Few companies are more central to how the world powers itself than Saudi Aramco.
In the century since its founding, it has become, by almost any measure, the most consequential energy business on the planet.
It is the largest oil and gas producer in the world, with a production volume of 12.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2024, and its 4.1 million barrel per day net refining capacity makes it the world's fourth-largest refiner.
However, when joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran kickstarted conflict across the Middle East at the end of February, the company's operations were immediately impacted.
While Saudi itself has not joined the fighting, its supply line through the Strait of Hormuz (the waterway through which the vast majority of Middle Eastern oil and gas ordinarily passes) has been effectively closed, leaving the country without its go-to trade route for its number one export.
