A TotalEnergies refinery in the Norman port town of Gonfreville-L'Orcher, on April 23, 2026. LOU BENOIST/AFP
Whether from non-governmental organizations or political parties, especially on the left, the criticisms levied against TotalEnergies, accusing the company of being a "war profiteer," are expected to come back with renewed force. Indeed, over the course of just one month, the group's first-quarter results for 2026 have been substantially boosted by the conflict in the Middle East and the near-total shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, which began on February 28.
After having speculated on crude oil prices, the French multinational hydrocarbon company reported, on Wednesday, April 29, $5.8 billion (€4.96 billion at the current exchange rate) in net income over the first three months of the year. The figure represents a 51% increase compared to the first quarter of 2025, when it stood at about $3.9 billion. Extrapolated to the scale of a full year, these record profits are comparable to the historically high performances the company recorded in 2022 ($20.5 billion) and 2023 ($21.4 billion), following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Admittedly, the conflict between Iran and the United States-Israel coalition has also led to some losses for TotalEnergies' oil and gas production in the Middle East. In a statement, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné said the lost production amounted to around 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day on average over the quarter. Yet the group offset these losses by ramping up, starting or restarting projects in places like Brazil and Libya, allowing it to maintain oil and gas production at a daily average rate of 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent.
