Exxon and Chevron Q3 2026: refining profits and record highs

ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) both earned far more in the third quarter of 2026 than a year earlier while producing less oil and gas. Their refineries made the difference. Exxon's Energy Products segment, its fuels refining business, earned $7.17 billion, up from $1.84 billion a year earlier, and Chevron's downstream segment earned $4.93 billion, up from $1.14 billion, according to the results both companies released before the market opened on Friday, Oct 30. Over the same period, Exxon's oil and gas production fell 5.7% and Chevron's 2.6%.

Both stocks closed Friday at the highest levels in StockFit's daily data. Exxon rose 2.2% to $187.25 and Chevron 1.8% to $235.52, on a day when SPY fell 1.8%.

This recap puts the two reports side by side on the same measures. Two things matter for any comparison. The companies define "adjusted" earnings differently, so their headline per-share figures are not the same measure. And neither company has filed its quarterly report (10-Q) yet, so the cash figures here come from the earnings releases; Chevron marks its cash-flow statement "Preliminary". Exxon's results were reported by ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation, the company's new listed parent; the ticker is still XOM.

What did Exxon and Chevron report for Q3 2026?

Exxon's net income doubled to $15.4 billion and Chevron's nearly tripled to $9.9 billion, and both companies' adjusted earnings per share came in above the LSEG consensus that CNBC reported.

Sources: Exxon's release and Chevron's release of Oct 30, 2026; Exxon's year-ago figures from its Q3 2025 release. Revenue and the LSEG consensus figures as reported by CNBC; Chevron's $67.8B equals the "total revenues and other income" line in its release. Changes are MoverTape calculations.

Against the second quarter the two moved apart. Exxon's GAAP net income rose 6.1%, while Chevron's fell 17.8%, mostly because its upstream (oil and gas production) earnings dropped from $8.18 billion to $5.70 billion (MoverTape calculations from the releases).

Exxon's adjusted EPS was $0.15 above the LSEG consensus and Chevron's $0.39 above it. Revenue was about 10% above consensus at both. Those comparisons are each company's own adjusted figure against analysts' expectations, and the two adjusted figures leave out different things.

Why isn't adjusted EPS the same measure at Exxon and Chevron?

Exxon's adjusted earnings leave out "timing effects" and Chevron's keep them in. Both companies report timing effects: accounting gaps that arise mainly when derivatives used to hedge oil and fuel cargoes are marked to quarter-end prices before the physical cargoes are booked, plus effects of LIFO inventory accounting. Exxon says these impacts "are expected to unwind in subsequent periods". In the third quarter they cut earnings at both companies.

• Exxon starts from GAAP earnings of $15,413 million, takes out $449 million of identified items (a $675 million gain on asset sales, less $226 million of other items) and adds back $2,541 million of timing effects: 15,413 − 449 + 2,541 = $17,505 million, or $4.23 a share. Per share, the timing effects were worth $0.61.
• Chevron starts from $9,924 million, adds back $294 million of special items (a $160 million legal reserve, a $110 million impairment and $24 million of pension settlement costs) and $143 million of foreign-currency losses: 9,924 + 294 + 143 = $10,361 million, or $5.28 a share. Its $1,580 million of timing effects stay in that figure. That is about $0.80 a share (MoverTape calculation from 1.963 billion diluted shares).

Source: the companies' Oct 30, 2026 releases (Exxon: key figures, adjusting items; Chevron: earnings summary and Attachment 4).

The second quarter shows why this matters. Timing effects were positive at both companies then and of almost the same size, so over the two quarters they nearly cancel out. At Exxon that swing makes the GAAP figures look flat while the adjusted figures jump: from Q2 to Q3, GAAP earnings rose 6.1% but adjusted earnings rose 19.2%, from $14.68 billion to $17.51 billion. Chevron's adjusted earnings, which keep the swing in, fell 13.5% from $11.98 billion (MoverTape calculations).

A year-on-year comparison of Exxon's adjusted EPS has its own catch. Exxon's release a year ago gave earnings excluding identified items only, $1.88 a share, without the timing-effect adjustment. The restated 2025 figures in this release cover only the first nine months, so the comparisons above are GAAP to GAAP. Our guide to reading an earnings report explains how to find each company's own definition of its adjusted figures.

Why did refining profit jump while production fell?

Refining margins rose sharply, while lower oil prices since the second quarter and fewer barrels held back the upstream businesses. In the quarter, refining earned slightly more than oil and gas production at Exxon, and nearly as much at Chevron.

Sources: the companies' Oct 30, 2026 releases and Exxon's Q3 2025 release; Brent average (Platts) as given in Chevron's release. Exxon also reports Chemical Products, Specialty Products and Corporate segments, not shown.

Energy Products earned the equivalent of 46.5% of Exxon's net income in the quarter, up from 24.4% a year earlier; Chevron's downstream earned the equivalent of 49.7%, up from 32.1% (MoverTape calculations). The segments are not drawn the same way: Exxon reports chemicals and lubricants in separate segments, while Chevron's downstream also includes its chemicals business. On Exxon's adjusted basis, which mainly adds back $1.87 billion of timing effects in the segment, Energy Products earned $9.05 billion, more than the $7.31 billion its upstream earned on the same basis. Our guide covers how to read segment figures.

What the companies said drove refining. Chevron's US downstream earnings rose to $3.59 billion from $0.64 billion a year earlier, "primarily due to higher margins on refined product sales". Its US refineries ran a record 1.09 million barrels of crude a day, at nearly 98% of capacity. Internationally its refined product sales fell 9% "due to supply disruptions from the Middle East conflict", yet earnings still rose to $1.35 billion from $0.50 billion on higher margins. Exxon credited higher margins and operations that included 100% crude unit utilization at its US Gulf Coast refineries and the second-highest diesel output on record there.

Why margins are high. CNBC reported that attacks by Ukraine, Iran and Houthi militants on refineries in Russia and the Middle East have cut global refining capacity, and that importers have turned to US Gulf Coast refineries for diesel. US diesel averaged $6.32 a gallon on Friday, more than 70% above a year earlier, according to AAA as cited by CNBC, after a record in September. On Exxon's call, Chief Executive Darren Woods estimated that roughly half of Russia's refining capacity has been taken offline, turning a former exporter of clean fuels into an importer, and put about a third of the shortage down to the inability to ship clean products out of the Middle East (transcript). He expects a slow recovery, because two things must happen: "stop the hostilities and then start the repairs".

Why upstream earned less than in Q2. Exxon's release says lower prices, along with an accelerated entitlement effect in Guyana, cut upstream earnings from the second quarter. Chevron's release explains its segments only against a year earlier, but on the call its finance chief, Eimear Bonner, cited lower realizations, lower liftings and unfavorable timing effects, according to MarketBeat's summary. Brent averaged $97 a barrel, against $104 in the second quarter. Chevron's realized price for US crude and other liquids fell to $62.72 a barrel from $70.80, and internationally to $86.09 from $96.41. Against a year earlier, when Brent averaged $69, prices were still much higher, and upstream earnings rose 25% at Exxon and 73% at Chevron (MoverTape calculations).

Why production fell. Chevron's US output was flat at 2.04 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, while international output fell by 109,000 barrels a day. Chevron blamed "lower entitlements from higher prices" and the Middle East conflict. Exxon's release mentions Middle East volume impacts in its year-to-date upstream commentary, and an "accelerated Guyana entitlement impact" in the comparison with the second quarter. Entitlements are a feature of production-sharing contracts: the operator recovers its costs in barrels of oil, so when prices rise it needs fewer barrels and its share shrinks, even if the field pumps as much as before.

How much cash did each return, and what did each say about next year?

Both companies paid out roughly half of their operating cash flow minus capital spending in dividends and buybacks. Exxon also put a number on next year's buybacks; Chevron did not in its release.

The two define free cash flow differently, so the table uses one measure for both: operating cash flow minus additions to property, plant and equipment (capex).

Sources: the companies' Oct 30, 2026 releases; Chevron's cash-flow figures are marked preliminary, and neither company has filed its 10-Q yet. Exxon's release rounds dividends and repurchases to $0.1B. Operating cash flow minus capex and the returned shares are MoverTape calculations. The companies' own free cash flow figures: Exxon $19.11B (operating cash flow plus its investing cash flows other than acquisitions, including $0.81B of asset-sale proceeds), Chevron $12.00B (operating cash flow minus capex, the same as our measure).

Exxon returned $9.4 billion: $4.3 billion of dividends and $5.1 billion of buybacks. Part of its operating cash flow came from a $2.2 billion release of working capital; excluding it, operating cash flow was $23.4 billion. Net debt has fallen by nearly $11 billion so far this year, to $22.1 billion. Exxon raised its quarterly dividend 4% to $1.07 a share, payable Dec 10 to holders of record on Nov 16, its 44th straight year of higher annual dividends. The release also "announced 2027 share repurchases of $20 billion", with a footnote: "assuming reasonable market conditions". On the call, Woods described it as a plan to "maintain share repurchases at $20 billion in 2027".

Chevron returned $5.98 billion: $3.48 billion of dividends and $2.50 billion of buybacks. Its operating cash flow of $16.0 billion was up from $9.4 billion a year earlier, which it credited to higher earnings and larger cash distributions from Tengizchevroil, its Kazakhstan joint venture. Its own "adjusted free cash flow" of $14.24 billion also counts a $0.99 billion loan repayment by that venture and $0.71 billion of asset-sale proceeds. Chevron cut total debt by $3.5 billion in the quarter, and net debt fell $7.8 billion to $20.7 billion. It declared a dividend of $1.78 a share, payable Dec 10 to holders of record on Nov 18. Shares outstanding were 1,951 million at Sep 30, down from 1,980 million at the end of 2025.

The release gives no buyback figure for future quarters. According to MarketBeat's summary of the call, Chevron kept its buyback range of $2.5 billion to $3 billion, expects to end 2026 at the low end of its capital spending guidance, and will give more detail on its 2027 capital program after a board meeting in December. In Venezuela, Chevron's joint ventures plan to invest $7 billion over the next five years, the release says.

How did Exxon and Chevron stock move?

Both stocks rose on report day while the broad market fell, and both closed above their previous highest closes in StockFit's daily data.

Week is from the Oct 23 close.

Source: StockFit daily closes (unadjusted, price return, no dividends), as of the Oct 30, 2026 close; XLE and SPY Oct 30 closes as published in our week in review. Year to date is from the Dec 31, 2025 close. Changes are MoverTape calculations.

Exxon's $187.25 close was 1.5% above its previous highest close in the series, $184.54 on Oct 26; Chevron's $235.52 was 1.0% above its $233.21 of Oct 23. Both closes are also higher than any month-end close StockFit has for either stock since 2005. During the session Exxon reached $188.50 and Chevron $236.46; CNBC reported that both "touched all-time highs".

The run-up was not a straight line. On Tuesday, Oct 27, Exxon fell 2.5% and Chevron 1.6%; both then rose in each of the three sessions up to and including report day (StockFit daily closes).

The two stocks also drive the energy fund. At XLE's June 30 filing, Exxon was 22.7% of the fund and Chevron 16.1% (StockFit fund holdings), which is why XLE's moves track theirs so closely. For the year, the energy fund is up 56.6% against 10.8% for SPY, with Exxon and Chevron slightly behind the fund. On the same Friday, the technology fund XLK fell 4.9% and Intel 28.6% after its results; our week in review for Oct 26–30 covers the rest of the market.

What is still unknown?

• The 10-Q filings. Neither company had filed its quarterly report as of Friday evening, and the figures above come from the releases. Exxon filed its second-quarter 10-Q on Aug 3. Chevron's cash-flow figures are preliminary until the 10-Q is filed.
• Where timing effects go next. Exxon says its timing effects are expected to unwind in later periods. How large they are in the fourth quarter depends on prices at the end of December, and they affect Exxon's GAAP figures and all of Chevron's.
• How long refining margins stay this high. That depends on refinery repairs in Russia and the Middle East and on shipping out of the Gulf. Woods expects a slow recovery; that is his estimate, not a forecast either company has published.
• Chevron's 2027 plans. Chevron's 2027 capital program is due after its December board meeting, per MarketBeat's call summary.
• Dividend dates. Exxon's $1.07 goes to holders of record on Nov 16 and Chevron's $1.78 to holders of record on Nov 18; both are payable Dec 10.

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