ExxonMobil and Chevron both beat Wall Street's profit estimates for the third quarter, leaning on strong refining margins to offset softer results from oil and gas production as crude prices eased through the summer.
ExxonMobil reported third-quarter earnings of $15.4 billion, or $3.72 a share; adjusted earnings came to $17.5 billion, or $4.23 a share. Its Energy Products segment, which includes refining, earned $7.2 billion, up from $5.5 billion in the second quarter and narrowly ahead of the $7.1 billion earned by the Upstream division — a reversal of refining's usual role as the smaller contributor. Exxon said upstream earnings fell from the prior quarter on lower prices and an accelerated entitlement impact tied to its Guyana operations. The company also announced $20 billion in share repurchases planned for 2027 and declared a fourth-quarter dividend of $1.07 a share.
Chevron's downstream rebound
Chevron reported third-quarter earnings of $9.9 billion, or $5.06 a diluted share, with adjusted earnings of $10.4 billion, or $5.28 a share, according to the company's quarterly filing. Downstream earnings — the refining and marketing side of the business — jumped to $4.9 billion from $1.1 billion a year earlier, with the US portion rising to $3.6 billion from $638 million. Chevron attributed the gain to wider margins on refined products such as gasoline and diesel. The filing also flagged a $160 million legal reserve and a $110 million impairment charge taken during the quarter.
The results mirror a pattern that has held across the industry this year: upstream earnings, tied closely to crude prices, have been choppier than the fairly stable margins refiners earn turning crude into fuel — a dynamic that has repeatedly cushioned the major oil companies' headline numbers even in quarters when drilling profits soften.
The releases landed against a backdrop of capital discipline that investors have rewarded all year. With Wall Street already jittery over open-ended AI infrastructure spending elsewhere in the market, oil majors that keep shareholder payouts steady while quietly leaning on refining to offset upstream swings have generally been treated kindly by comparison.
Energy stocks have lagged the broader market for much of 2026, and Friday's reports gave investors in the sector a rare reminder of its resilience even as attention elsewhere stays fixed on technology earnings.