Oil countries and fossil fuel companies are making huge war profits

Industry Discussions Oil and Gas
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Exclusive: Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026

United States is another climate action blocker.

The excess profits come from the pockets of ordinary people as they pay high prices to fill up their vehicles and power their homes, as well as from businesses incurring higher energy bills. Dozens of countries have cut fuel taxes to help struggling consumers, meaning those nations, including Australia, South Africa, Italy, Brazil and Zambia, are raising less money for public services.

Pressure is growing for windfall taxes on the war profits of oil and gas companies, with the European Commission considering a request from the finance ministers of Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Austria to “send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public”.

“It would make it possible to finance temporary relief, especially for consumers, and curb rising inflation, without placing additional burdens on public budgets,” the ministers said in a letter on 4 April. The EU’s fossil fuel bill has risen by €22bn since the start of the Iran war.

Aramco is by far the biggest winner, estimated to make a war profit of $25.5bn in 2026 if the oil price averages $100. That is on top of the huge profits habitually made by the majority state-owned Saudi company – $250m a day between 2016 to 2023. Saudi Arabia has for decades led successful efforts to block and delay international climate action.

Big oil is set to make huge war profits

Estimated extra profit Mar-Dec 2026 at average price of $100 a barrel

Saudi Aramco
$25.5bn

Kuwait Petroleum Corp
$12.1bn

ExxonMobil
$11.0bn

Gazprom
$10.8bn

Chevron
$9.2bn

PetroChina
$9.2bn

Petrobras
$8.0bn

Shell
$6.8bn

Rosneft
$6.6bn

ADNOC
$6.4bn

Guardian graphic Source: Global Witness/Rystad Energy

the Guardian – 15 Apr 26

$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers, analysis finds

Exclusive: Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026

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So, what are “excess profits”?

What is your approved price for a barrel of oil?

DB2

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Well, in a regulated industry like electric utilities (or in the old days, the telephone system), it’s the cost of running the business plus a specified percentage of profit. That seems to, with occasional exceptions, work pretty well.

I’m not saying that model would work for everything, but it likewise seems foolhardy to insist that producers of a resource vital to the economy must be allowed to operate with not oversight whatsoever.

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Fantastic! Fantastic Fantastic

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Terrible Terrible Terrible