As European households struggled to pay their energy bills, the continent’s oil companies more than doubled their profits over the last quarter, reaping the benefits of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Eight months to the day since American and Israeli forces began bombarding Iran, Brent crude prices sat at $115 on Thursday, up from $72 pre-war. Dated Brent, the actual on-the-spot price that purchasers are paying for Brent cargoes in the North Sea, was even higher, at $120.
This price spike has driven the cost of petrol, diesel, and heating oil to record highs across Europe. However, it’s been a windfall for Europe’s largest oil companies, according to quarterly profit statements compiled by Germany’s Der Spiegel on Thursday.
British oil and gas giant Shell recorded a profit of $12.1 billion between July and September, a more than twofold increase on the previous quarter, and on the same quarter last year. Between July and September 2025, Shell made $5.43 billion in profit.
France’s TotalEnergies increased profits by 127% to $9.1 billion in the same period, while Spain’s Repsol recorded an almost fivefold increase, from $640.7 million to $3.1 billion. Austria’s OMV, meanwhile, increased profits by 68% to $2.36 billion.
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil and his counterparts in Austria, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, have called for an EU-wide windfall tax on the oil giants, similar to the “solidarity levy” imposed by Brussels after the escalation of the Russia/Ukraine conflict in 2022.
“The Commission has been very reserved on this issue, although several member states have been calling for models to be presented for a long time,” Klingbeil said after a meeting of EU finance ministers in Ireland last month. “This must happen by the next [finance ministers’] meeting in October at the latest,” he added.
The European Commission shot down Klingbeil’s proposal, and October passed with no action from Brussels. “It is in the hands of member states,” EU Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters. “Member states can go ahead and take those decisions on the taxing of windfall profits.”
Despite Gulf exports reportedly recovering to 80% of pre-war levels, Houthi attacks on Saudi energy facilities and shipping, the threat of naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and warnings of an “intense” new US military campaign against Iran have all played a role in keeping oil prices nearly twice as high as they were at the beginning of February.
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