The war sent prices soaring. Energy giants earned billions of dollars in three months

While the Iran war has increased oil and natural gas prices and the cost of living around the world, energy giants Shell and TotalEnergies announced today that their third quarter net profits have doubled.

Spanish oil giant Repsol also quadrupled its net profit in the first nine months of the year due to the impact of rising fossil fuel prices.

British energy company Shell announced that its after-tax profit in the third quarter, covering the July-September period, more than doubled compared to the same period last year, reaching 12.1 billion dollars.

The company's revenues also rose sharply to $92.8 billion. Shell reported that high natural gas prices also pushed its third quarter balance sheet up.

French energy giant TotalEnergies broke a new record with a net profit of $8.3 billion in the same period.

Repsol, which quadrupled its net profit to 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in the first nine months of the year, was also added to this table.

Now it's time for other giants: British BP and US Chevron and ExxonMobil will announce their third quarter balance sheets on Friday.

Shell and TotalEnergies used this jump in profits to increase their payouts to shareholders.

Both companies announced high profit increases in the first two quarters of 2026.

With the recent news about the Ukraine war, oil and natural gas futures fluctuated between sharp gains and losses, paving the way for companies to profit from their trading operations.

The main factor that fills the coffers of energy giants is the interruptions in oil and natural gas supply in the Middle East.

The production and export of processed products in the region are struggling with severe disruptions. This picture means that refineries that are not affected by conflicts are profiting from the shrinking global supply.

Moreover, logistical restrictions make it difficult to direct fuel supplies to other routes and widen the gap between crude oil prices and processed products.

Simultaneously, Ukraine's drone attacks on the Russian energy infrastructure led Russia, one of the major players in the oil market, to ban the export of some products, especially gasoline and diesel.

All this congestion has pushed refinery margins, which represent the difference between the price of crude oil and the fuels derived from it, to record levels.

According to Bloomberg data, profit margins, which were 24 dollars per barrel in the April-June period, jumped to 42 dollars in the third quarter. Thus, the previous record set after Russia launched a military intervention in Ukraine in 2022 was left behind.

In a statement today, Shell CEO Wael Sawan praised the "very strong results achieved in a quarter during which heavy disruptions to the global energy system continued."

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne stated in his written statement that his company benefited from "the high price environment characterized by historic refining margins and a rising natural gas market."

Speaking to the AFP agency, AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould also compared the current picture with 2022.

"Profits were last at these levels in 2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine created its own energy shock. The current extremely favorable market conditions may not last forever, but Shell has chosen to share this profit with its shareholders," Mould said.