Key facts
- Europe's top six oil and gas majors booked a combined $38 billion for the July-to-September quarter, the report said.
- BP suspended its buyback to cut debt, reducing borrowings by as much as $10 billion to $13.9 billion.
- Exxon's quarterly profit doubled from a year earlier and Chevron's tripled, according to the report.
- TotalEnergies now expects oil demand to peak between 2035 and 2040, later than its prior after-2040 forecast.
- Vitol forecast oil demand growing until 2040, citing slower-than-expected electric vehicle adoption.
- The report said war involving the US, Israel and Iran pushed oil and gas prices to multi-year highs.
Europe's six largest oil and gas companies reported a combined $38 billion in profit for the July-to-September quarter of 2026, according to a report published November 3, 2026 by Oilprice.com. Adding Exxon and Chevron raises the total further, the report said, without giving a combined figure.
The companies are directing the windfall toward debt reduction and share repurchases rather than new projects. BP suspended its share buyback program to cut debt faster and reduced borrowings by as much as $10 billion, leaving $13.9 billion outstanding, the report said.
Exxon's third-quarter profit doubled from a year earlier, Chevron booked triple its prior-year third-quarter profit and BP reported the highest quarterly profit in its history, according to the report. It attributed the results to oil and gas prices at multi-year highs amid war involving the United States, Israel and Iran, and to record refining margins driven by the Russia-Ukraine war.
Reuters columnist Ron Bousso wrote that "Big Oil has so far shied away from major new spending, suggesting the majors do not see today's market conditions as evidence that the industry's long-term outlook has improved," the report cited him as saying.
TotalEnergies revised its peak oil demand forecast to between 2035 and 2040, from after 2040 previously, the report said. Vitol forecast oil demand would keep growing until 2040, citing slower-than-expected electric vehicle adoption.