Saudi Aramco has ranked again as the world’s most profitable company over the last 12 months, achieving $156.36 billion in profits, according to the latest report from Forbes. This happened despite the company’s 38% decline in profit during the second quarter of this year.

Lower crude oil prices and the weakening of refining and chemicals margins caused this decrease in revenues.

However, the company made significantly more profit than second-placed Apple, which had a profit of $94.32 billion.

Aramco’s market value sits at an estimated $2,055.22 billion, just behind Apple and Microsoft.

Aramco plans to expand its oil production capacity by 1 mmbbl/d to 13 mmbbl/d by 2027, with most of the increase coming from offshore fields.

As of 2023 through 2025, Aramco expects to tender and award contracts for 66 projects related to oil and gas processing and refining facilities, 14 related to pipelines and distribution, and 10 for civil infrastructure and security systems.

Saudi Aramco is also known as one of the global leaders in innovation. It was awarded 864 US patents in 2021, ranking it number one in the oil and gas industry globally and among the top 50 of all companies and universities that received US patents that year, according to the Patent 300 List. In 2022, Aramco’s patents increased to 963.

“Our ambition for Saudi Arabia is to become a global leader in research, development, and innovation with an annual investment of 2.5% of GDP in 2040. This will diversify and add 60 billion Saudi Riyals ($16 billion) to the economy in 2040 while creating high-value jobs in science and technology,” said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.