BP Plc has reported a nearly fourfold increase in third-quarter profit to a record $8.6 billion, as the war-driven disruption of global energy supplies pushed refining margins higher and boosted oil and gas trading earnings.
The British energy major disclosed on Friday, October 30, that its underlying replacement cost profit, a key measure of its earnings, rose from the corresponding period of 2025, significantly beating analysts’ expectations of $7.3 billion.
The result also represented a $2.7 billion increase from the second quarter of 2026, reflecting stronger refining margins and improved performance in gas and marketing trading.
The surge in earnings comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which have disrupted crude oil and fuel supplies and contributed to historically high refining margins.
BP Refining Margins Surge to $46.7 per Barrel
BP said its average refining indicator margin climbed to $46.7 per barrel in the third quarter, compared with $29.6 per barrel in the second quarter and $15.8 per barrel in the same period of 2025.
For the nine months ended September 2026, the average refining margin rose to $31.2 per barrel from $12 per barrel in the corresponding period last year.
The company attributed the stronger quarterly performance largely to significantly higher realised refining margins and improved results from gas and marketing trading.
“Refining margins are expected to remain elevated and sensitive to the cost of supply and market conditions,” the company said in its outlook.
BP Cuts Debt by Nearly $10 billion
The record earnings also strengthened BP’s cash generation, with operating cash flow doubling year-on-year to $14.8 billion in the third quarter.
The stronger cash flow enabled the company to accelerate efforts to reduce its debt, cutting net debt by nearly $10 billion to $13.9 billion at the end of September from $22.2 billion three months earlier.
BP has prioritised strengthening its balance sheet rather than increasing shareholder distributions amid the surge in oil industry earnings.
Unlike some of its European competitors, the company has not increased shareholder payouts and suspended its share buyback programme earlier in 2026 to focus on debt reduction.
Chief Executive Officer Meg O’Neill said the company had achieved its net debt and structural cost reduction targets, adding that it had a clearer path towards meeting the remaining two of its four primary financial targets for 2027.
BP’s strong performance follows similarly robust earnings reported by other European energy majors, including Shell and TotalEnergies, which have also benefited from elevated refining margins and stronger energy trading.
TotalEnergies doubled its earnings from a year earlier, supported by historically high refining margins, higher oil and gas prices, and strong oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading.
Shell, meanwhile, reported third-quarter earnings of more than $10.8 billion, nearly double its year-earlier performance. The company also increased its share buyback programme to $5 billion from $4.2 billion.
