Melisa Cavcic
During a time when the International Energy Agency (IEA) pinpointed the need to strike a balance between supply-side risks and demand-side trends, calling for more upstream investments to ensure that the oil supply would not fall by 45 million barrels a day by 2050, the quarterly results season and the profits reported by oil and gas heavyweights spotlight the belief that fossil fuels will keep their place under the global energy sun for the foreseeable future.
Since the income attributable to its shareholders totalled $5.32 billion in Q3 2025, compared to $3.62 billion in the second quarter of 2025 and $4.29 billion in Q3 2024, Shell explained that the quarterly increase reflected higher trading and optimisation margins, higher sales volumes, and favourable tax movements, partly offset by higher operating expenses.
The UK giant reported adjusted earnings of $5.43 billion in Q3 2025, which were up from $4.26 billion in Q2 2025 and $6.03 billion in Q3 2024, alongside its adjusted EBITDA of $14.77 billion in Q3 2025, which was higher than $13.31 billion in Q2 2025 but lower than $16 billion in Q3 2024.
Wael Sawan, Shell’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), remarked: “Shell delivered another strong set of results, with clear progress across our portfolio and excellent performance in our Marketing business and deepwater assets in the Gulf of America and Brazil. Despite continued volatility, our strong delivery this quarter enables us to commence another $3.5 billion of buybacks for the next three months.”
Equinor delivered a net operating income of $5.27 billion in Q3 2025, a slight drop from $5.72 billion in Q2 2025 and also lower than $6.9 billion in Q3 2024. The adjusted operating income for the third quarter of 2025 amounted to $6.2 billion, down from $6.54 billion in Q2 2025 and $6.89 billion in Q3 2024.
The firm’s net income was a loss of $204 million in Q3 2025, a fall from $1.32 billion seen in Q2 2025 and $2.29 billion in Q3 2024. The company’s adjusted net income was $932 million in Q3 2025, compared to $1.67 billion in Q2 2025 and $2.2 billion in Q3 2024.
Anders Opedal, President and CEO of Equinor, commented: “We delivered strong operations this quarter. High-performing fields and new fields coming on stream on the Norwegian Continental Shelf drive production growth. In October, we started production from our largest offshore field internationally, Bacalhau.
“The field will contribute substantially to grow earnings from our international portfolio towards 2030. We have systematically addressed cost over time. In a period with both production growth and inflation, we maintain stable costs year to date.”
BP reported an underlying replacement cost (RC) profit of $2.21 billion in Q3 2025, compared with $2.35 billion in the previous quarter and a profit of $2.27 billion in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting higher profitability in the operating segments offset by a higher underlying effective tax rate (ETR) in the quarter of 39%, which includes changes in the geographical mix of profits.
The firm’s reported profit for the quarter was $1.2 billion, down from $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2025. The company has grown its upstream portfolio by starting up six major projects in 2025, taking a final investment decision on Tiber-Guadalupe in the Gulf of Mexico (U.S.), and making 12 exploration discoveries year-to-date.
Murray Auchincloss, BP’s CEO, underlined: “We’ve delivered another quarter of good performance across the business with operations continuing to run well. All six major oil and gas projects planned for 2025 are online, including four that are ahead of schedule. We’ve sanctioned our seventh operated production hub in the Gulf of America and have had further exploration success. We delivered record 3Q underlying earnings in customers, and refining captured a better margin environment.
“Meanwhile, we expect full year divestment proceeds to be higher – underpinned by around $5 billion of completed or announced disposal agreements. We continue to make good progress to cut costs, strengthen our balance sheet and increase cash flow and returns. We are looking to accelerate delivery of our plans, including undertaking a thorough review of our portfolio to drive simplification and targeting further improvements in cost performance and efficiency.”
TotalEnergies claims it achieved year-on-year hydrocarbon production growth of over 4%, resulting in $4 billion in adjusted net income for the third quarter of 2025, 11% higher than $3.6 billion in Q2 2025 but slightly below $4.07 billion in Q3 2024.
Patrick Pouyanné, TotalEnergies’ CEO, elaborated: “In the third quarter 2025, net investments reached $3.1 billion, benefiting from around $400 million of disposals net of acquisitions. Gearing at the end of the third quarter now stands at 17.3%, up 0.6% from the end of the second quarter 2025, benefiting from a $1.3 billion positive working capital contribution.
“Upon observing the company’s ability to deliver on its energy production growth objective, the Board of Directors has confirmed the distribution of the third interim dividend of 0.85 €/share for fiscal year 2025, an increase close to 7.6% compared to 2024 and at the same level as previous interim dividends. As announced on September 24th, the board of directors confirmed to authorize share buybacks for up to $1.5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2025.”
Eni recorded an adjusted net profit of €1.2 billion or $1.39 billion during Q3 2025, which dropped by 2% compared to €1.27 billion ($1.48 billion) in Q3 2024. The firm’s pro forma adjusted EBIT is €3 billion ($3.49 billion) in Q3 2025 compared to €3.4 billion ($3.95 billion) in Q3 2024.
Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s CEO, underscored: “Strong production growth to 1.76 mln barrels/day (+6% compared to last year) allows us to raise our annual guidance towards 1.72 mln barrels/day, confirming the acceleration trend continuing in the coming months thanks to the new fields under development in Congo, UAE, Qatar and Libya, and the start of the business combination in Indonesia and Malaysia which will create one of the leading players on the LNG market in the Asian continent.
“[…] The execution of the transition strategy also proceeds in line with the plan: the upgrade of the Sannazzaro hub and the conversion of Priolo mark new biorefining development projects and contribute to the transformation of our downstream; at the same time, Plenitude has reached 4.8 GW of installed renewable capacity, in line with the target of 5.5 GW by the end of the year.
“In addition, the partnership with GIP has been launched to maximize the growth potential of the CCUS business in our portfolio. In a context of weaker oil prices and a strengthening euro, the economic and financial performance confirms the effectiveness of our strategy and satellite model, which allows us to ensure accelerated growth and stable dividends.”
ConocoPhillips reported third-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.7 billion, down from $2.1 billion in the third quarter of 2024. Excluding special items, the third-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings were $2 billion, compared with the third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of $2.1 billion.
Ryan Lance, Chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, outlined: “Looking to 2026, we expect lower capital and operating costs with flat to modest production growth. Willow’s total project capital has been updated to $8.5-$9 billion, with total LNG project capital reduced to $3.4 billion.
“Powered by our deep, durable and diverse portfolio, we remain on track to deliver an expected $7 billion in incremental free cash flow by 2029, including $1 billion each year from 2026 through 2028.”
ExxonMobil‘s earnings of $7.55 billion in the third quarter of 2025 are up from $7.08 billion in Q2 2025. The firm emphasised that weaker crude prices, bottom-of-cycle chemical margins, higher depreciation, growth costs, and lower base volumes from strategic divestments decreased earnings, which were partially offset by advantaged volume growth in the Permian and Guyana, additional structural cost savings, and favourable timing effects.
Darren Woods, ExxonMobil’s Chairman and CEO, highlighted: “We delivered the highest earnings per share we’ve had compared to other quarters in a similar oil-price environment.1 In Guyana, we broke records with quarterly production surpassing 700,000 barrels per day, and started up the Yellowtail development four months early and under budget.
“In the Permian, we also set another production record of nearly 1.7 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, while continuing to expand the use of proprietary technologies like our lightweight proppant that improves well recoveries by up to 20%. We’ve now started up eight of our 10 key 2025 projects, with the remaining two on track. No one else in our industry is executing at this scale, with this level of innovation, or delivering this kind of value.”
Chevron reported earnings of $3.5 billion for the third quarter of 2025, compared to $2.49 billion in the second quarter of 2025 and $4.5 billion in the third quarter of 2024. The firm saw adjusted earnings of $3.63 billion in the third quarter of 2025, compared to $3.05 billion in the second quarter of 2025 and $4.53 billion in the third quarter of 2024.
Mike Wirth, Chevron’s Chairman and CEO, stated: “Third quarter results reflect record production, strong cash generation and sustained superior cash returns to shareholders. The integration of Hess is progressing well, unlocking synergies across our operations and positioning Chevron as a premier global energy company.” – Offshore Energy
