The production of commercial quantities of crude oil began in 1938. Today, it remains at the core of Aramco's business. Through a skilled workforce and leveraging technology, Aramco sustains its low-cost and low-carbon intensity crude oil production.

It produces 5 different grades of crude oil: Arabian Heavy, Arabian Medium, Arabian Light, Arabian Extra Light, and Arabian Super Light.  Capitalizing on the size and quality of its reserves, and its expertise in exploration and recovery with state-of-the-art, integrated upstream and downstream networks, it is redefining the benchmark for global energy production.

Today, Saudi Aramco is the sole supplier of natural gas to Saudi Arabia, the 7th largest natural gas market in the world. It is a fundamental product used to meet growing domestic energy demand to power industries such as steel, aluminium, and water desalination. It provides an efficient, cleaner burning energy alternative for these activities which helps lower emissions. They also supply large quantities of ethane, natural gas liquids (NGL) and condensate as feedstocks for major petrochemical and building materials industries.

Aramco’s MGS, an extensive network of pipelines that connects its key gas production and processing sites throughout the Kingdom, is currently undergoing an expansion.

Aramco plans to expand its gas business to meet the large and growing domestic demand for low-cost cleaner energy by increasing production and investing in additional infrastructure. Furthermore, Aramco seeks over time to develop an integrated global gas portfolio and continues to evaluate investment and joint venture opportunities outside the Kingdom in natural gas and LNG projects.

Since entering the chemicals business in 1998, Aramco has sought to maximize the value of every hydrocarbon molecule it produces and has created a diversified portfolio of non-oil revenue streams for the company. Its chemicals business currently spans the production of basic chemicals such as aromatics, olefins, and polyolefins to more complex products such as polyols and advanced synthetic rubber. 

Aramco’s global network includes joint ventures with global industry leaders, including DowDuPont (Sadara), ExxonMobil (SAMREF), Sinopec (Yasref), Sumitomo (PetroRabigh), and Total (SATORP). Following its 70% stake in SABIC, Aramco's intention is to transfer the marketing and sales responsibility for a number of Aramco petrochemicals and polymers products to SABIC, and the offtake and resale responsibility of a number of SABIC products to Aramco Trading Company (ATC). 

Through the development of innovative technologies, capacity expansions in the Kingdom, and new investments overseas, it is continuing to invest in the growth of our chemicals business. 

As a leading supplier of premium quality base oils around the world – one of the basic ingredients of lubricants – Aramco has introduced its own lubricant product line, ORIZON®.

ORIZON®, a new lubricants brand is made with high-quality base oils. Through a series of global joint ventures, Aramco has been a trusted supplier of base oils for more than 40 years. Creating additional value for the customers is a natural next step, and in line with its vision to become the world’s preeminent integrated energy and chemicals company. Meeting the rising global demand for high-quality lubricants, it is producing lubricant solutions under the ORIZON® brand for the automotive, industrial and marine sectors, initially in Saudi Arabia and then globally.

The company's downstream operations began in 1945 when the Ras Tanura refinery started operations and expanded with the acquisition of an in-Kingdom refining network from Samarec in 1993. Today, it produces a full slate of quality fuels and lubricants that meet or exceed international quality standards.

Its principal refined products include LPG, naphtha, gasoline, jet fuel/kerosene, diesel, heavy fuel oil, and asphalt. Aramco’s refining operations are conducted in the Kingdom and internationally through wholly owned and affiliated refineries. The refining operations allow Aramco to transform its crude oil and NGL into refined products and chemicals for sale within the Kingdom and internationally.

Aramco specifically designs and configures its refining system to optimize production using the crude oil it produces, which helps reduce supply chain cost and improve operational efficiency in its refining operations, and therefore, the supply of refined products to its downstream customers.

Aramco’s acquisition of a 70% stake in SABIC, the global diversified chemicals company, has enabled it to strengthen its chemicals platform, and expand its reach and footprint in more than 50 countries, worldwide. It supplies refined products to more than 17,000 service stations worldwide with 5,300 located in the U.S., more than 5,200 in China and South Korea, 6,500 in Japan and 270 service stations in Saudi Arabia.

In 2019, Aramco entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Total to operate service stations in the Kingdom by acquiring a network of 270 service stations in the Kingdom under the “Sahel” brand name. Together with Total, it intends to expand and/or rebrand these newly acquired service stations in the future.

Saudi Aramco provides the best quality fuels to meet the needs of today’s demanding engines. Available in both PG-91 and PG-95, its gasoline fuels meet the needs of all gasoline-powered cars sold in the Kingdom. It also supplies high-quality diesel fuel for trucks and other specialty vehicles. All gasoline fuels are unleaded.

It intends to offer consumers a new line of automotive services, coupled with branded finished lubricant products, as part of its commitment to diversify its downstream portfolio. From gasoline to kerosene to sales gas, the customers enjoy a range of retail fuel products that help keep the Kingdom’s economy thriving and its people living more mobile, productive, and meaningful lives.

For the past 40 years, three of its downstream affiliates (LUBEREF, Motiva and S-Oil) have been major suppliers of quality Group I, Group II and Group III base oils. Aramco is collaborating with them to deliver new solutions that meet the needs of its customers – and of evolving markets.

It has integrated its product offering under a unified global brand family, Aramco Base Oils, to deliver a broad range of base oil products under the aramcoDURA, aramcoPRIMA, and aramcoULTRA brands. AramcoDURA base oils help keep automotive and industrial engines moving, meeting the exacting requirements of today’s modern automotive and industrial engines. 

Key product properties: 

API Group I

Major applications: Industrial, Marine and mid-tier Automotive

AramcoPRIMA API Group II base oils give you the power to formulate the majority of automotive and industrial lubricating oils for heavy-duty diesel engine oils, as well as driveline oils, and industrial hydraulic and turbine oils.

API Group II

Major applications: automotive and high-performance industrial applications.

AramcoULTRA API Group III base oils are used in applications that require high performance and efficiency, such as high-performance engines, automatic/manual transmissions and long-life industrial fluids. 

API Group III

Major applications: automotive and high-performance industrial applications.

It also offers fluids under the aramcoULTRA brand which are derived from our Group III processing stream but are not classified as API Group III oil that are high-purity products suitable for process oil application.