Eight major oil companies generated €7.5 billion in excess profits in Europe in the first half of 2026, off the back of volatility in the Middle East, new analysis from Transport & Environment (T&E) has found.
According to T&E, six of these companies – BP, Shell, Eni, Orlen, Repsol and OMV – more than doubled their profits in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period a year earlier, while the other two, TotalEnergies and Moeve, also recorded ‘healthy’ profits.
Tax measures
T&E has called on the European Union to introduce a permanent tax on windfall profits, and use the revenues to reduce drivers’ exposure to the volatile fossil fuels market.
On a country-by-country basis, excess profits were highest in Poland, followed by Spain, Germany and France. As T&E noted, as these profits stem from revenues earned within the EU27, they could be subject to a permanent windfall tax if an appropriate mechanism were to be introduced.
Overall, the eight firms included in the study generated around €17.9 billion in global excess profit over the first two quarters of 2026, with the EU-attributed figure representing around 42% of that total. BP and Shell generated most of their revenues outside the EU.
Windfall profits
“Oil giants are abandoning green energy while drivers foot the bill for their record profits,” commented Antony Froggatt, senior director at T&E. “As Europe burns, this is unjust. The EU must tax windfall oil profits and use the funds to make electric driving affordable for everyone. This needs to be the last oil crisis.”
Notably, T&E also noted that countries with higher rates of electric vehicle penetration are ‘much less exposed’ to higher prices – Denmark, for example, has a battery electric vehicle share of around 19%, compared with less than 1% in Poland.
As previous T&E research found, the Iran conflict is set to hit petrol drivers five times more than EV drivers.
Separate polling conducted by YouGov for T&E and other NGOs, a majority of Europeans support a tax on windfall profits. Read more here.
