Up to +260% profit in one year: TotalEnergies, Shell, Repsol… across Europe, oil companies are reaping exceptional profits

Black gold has never lived up to its name so well. This is one of the consequences of the war in the Middle East and the resulting surge in oil prices: the oil giants across Europe are posting quarterly profits almost twice as large as those generated last year over the same period. The financial statements published this morning by several major oil groups, including Total Energies, Shell and the Italian Eni, all show exceptional figures.

In the third quarter of 2026, the French major saw its adjusted net profit more than double compared to the same period last year to reach 9.1 billion dollars (8.1 billion euros). An amount which triggered an immediate reaction from the government. Maud Bregeon, government spokesperson and Minister of Energy, called on TotalEnergies to set an example by “[continuing] its cap [on fuel prices] as much as necessary”.

Total's activity was notably driven by the increase in its margins on crude oil refining. If the French leader generated $8.40 per refined barrel between July and September 2025, the profit amounted to $33.20 for the same unit over the past quarter.

TotalEnergies has more than doubled its profit in one year: how can we explain its exceptional results in the third quarter?

A trend which can be explained by the disruptions suffered by the refinery sector in the Middle East. Nearly 20 refineries have been hit by strikes in the region since late February. This is 2.3 million fewer refined barrels per day out of a production of 11.6 million barrels per day according to figures from Reuters and the Arab Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). With less supply, demand has increased accordingly and with it the prices and margins of refined oil from the large European refinery groups.

Across the Channel, Shell had an even more successful year than its French competitor, the most lucrative since 2022 in fact. In the third quarter of 2025, the British oil giant generated $5.43 billion in adjusted net profit. This year, over the same period, this figure rises to 10.81 billion dollars, an increase of 99%.

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Here too, Shell benefited from sharply increasing margins on its refining activity, going from $11.60 per refined barrel from July to September 2025, to $42 in the third quarter of 2026.

Both Shell and TotalEnergies are also benefiting from an increasing sales price for liquefied natural gas: between the second and third quarters of 2026, this increased from $7.20 to $8.30 per thousand cubic feet, again due to disruptions in the Middle East.

Machine-translated from French