ExxonMobil Posts $15.4 Billion Third-Quarter 2026 Profit, Announces $20 Billion 2027 Share Buyback

ExxonMobil reported third-quarter 2026 earnings of $15.4 billion, or $3.72 per share, double the $7.5 billion, or $1.76 a share, it earned in the same period of 2025, according to the company's third-quarter results disclosure. Adjusted earnings came in at $17.5 billion, or $4.23 per share, topping the $4.08 adjusted EPS analysts polled by LSEG had expected, CNBC reported. Alongside the results, Exxon announced a 2027 share repurchase program of $20 billion.

Earnings Beat Estimates as Refining Strength Carries the Quarter

Exxon's adjusted per-share result cleared Wall Street's bar by 15 cents ($4.23 reported adjusted versus the $4.08 LSEG consensus cited by CNBC). In its own results disclosure, the company said $16.9 billion in structural cost savings since 2019 are expanding its earnings power. Exxon also highlighted that it has reached 44 consecutive years of increases in annual dividends per share, a streak it says is longer than 95% of S&P 500 companies.

A significant driver of the quarter, according to CNBC's reporting, was a surge in global diesel prices after Ukraine and Iran bombed refineries in Russia and the Middle East. U.S. refiners ramped up production to fill the resulting supply gap, and that dynamic boosted refining profits across the sector. Exxon said its Gulf Coast refineries ran at 100% utilization with the second-highest diesel production on record at those facilities, per CNBC's account of the results.

How Exxon's Quarter Compares With Chevron's

Chevron, which reported on the same day, posted net income that surged nearly 200% to $9.9 billion, or $5.06 a share, from $3.5 billion, or $1.82 a share, a year earlier, CNBC reported. Chevron's adjusted EPS of $5.28 beat the $4.89 expected by analysts, and revenue of $67.8 billion topped the $61.6 billion consensus estimate.

The refining comparison between the two companies is notable. Chevron's U.S. refineries processed record crude volumes of just above 1 million barrels per day at 98% capacity utilization, with diesel and jet fuel yields up more than 10%, CNBC reported. Profits from Chevron's refining division surged more than 300% to $4.9 billion from $1.1 billion in the same quarter of 2025, according to the same report. Exxon's Gulf Coast refineries ran at full capacity as well, though neither CNBC's account nor Exxon's results disclosure broke out a refining-segment profit figure comparable to Chevron's, so a dollar-for-dollar refining margin comparison is not available.

On the upstream side, Chevron's oil and gas production profits rose about 70% to $5.7 billion from $3.3 billion a year earlier, even as output slipped slightly to 3.9 million barrels per day from roughly 4 million bpd, a decline CNBC attributed to Chevron's international segment and in part to the Middle East conflict, while U.S. output was largely flat year over year.

Market Reaction

Shares of both companies rose after the results were released. CNBC reported Exxon trading about 1.5% higher and Chevron about 2% higher in premarket trading.

What's Behind the Size of the Buyback

Exxon's results disclosure pairs the $20 billion 2027 repurchase program with the $16.9 billion in structural cost savings since 2019 and the 44-year dividend growth streak, both of which the company presents as evidence of expanding earnings power. As interpretation rather than reported fact, that framing positions the buyback as a product of sustained cost discipline rather than a single strong quarter. Exxon did not disclose the size of prior-year repurchase programs in the materials announcing the results, so the 2027 authorization cannot be measured against earlier years' commitments.

Separately, and as interpretation rather than reported fact: the refining gains both companies described are tied to the global diesel price surge that followed refinery bombings in Russia and the Middle East, as CNBC reported, which points to an external market condition rather than a structural change at either company. Neither company's disclosed results address whether elevated refining margins will continue in subsequent quarters.

Bottom Line

Exxon's third-quarter 2026 profit doubled year over year and beat adjusted EPS expectations, while the company unveiled a $20 billion buyback program for 2027, according to its results disclosure and CNBC. Chevron posted a similarly strong quarter, with CNBC reporting that both companies benefited from a refining margin boost tied to disrupted global diesel supply. How the new buyback compares with Exxon's prior-year programs, and how its refining-segment profit stacks up against Chevron's, are not disclosed in the results materials.