Activists call surging oil and gas profits ‘horrifying’ as energy giants post profits twice as high as 2025
Oil and gas companies, including BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies, have reported soaring profits in early 2026 due to supply disruptions from the Middle East conflict, with prices spiking after the Strait of Hormuz closure. Activists and advocacy groups are condemning the windfall gains as drivers face sharply higher fuel costs worldwide. Despite public backlash, energy giants are expected to maintain strong earnings if oil prices remain near $100 per barrel. Calls are growing for governments to impose or expand windfall taxes on fossil fuel profits to aid struggling households.
- ▪BP reported $3.2 billion in first-quarter profits, more than double its $1.38 billion from the same period last year.
- ▪Brent crude oil prices rose from $73 before the war to around $110 per barrel in early 2026.
- ▪The six largest fossil fuel companies are earning nearly $3,000 per second, with projected 2026 profits totaling $94 billion.
- ▪Oxfam estimates these companies are making $37 million more per day than in 2025 due to the conflict-driven price surge.
- ▪Lawmakers and advocacy groups in the U.S. and Europe are pushing for windfall taxes on energy profits to offset rising consumer costs.
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If drivers saddled with pricey fees at the pump have been one of the biggest economic losers of the war in the Middle East, the companies selling that gasoline have emerged as the conflict’s clear winner.Recommended Video In mid-March, when the war was only two weeks old, market capitalization at the world’s six largest energy firms had surged a combined $130 billion, the Guardian calculated. But it took some companies reporting first quarter earnings this past week to nail down just how much hard cash the conflict has generated for oil giants. On Tuesday, BP, one of the U.K.’s largest energy companies, reported $3.2 billion in profits over the first three months of the year, more than double the $1.38 billion in profits the company announced over the same period last year.
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