Big Oil poised to smash annual profit records — sparking outcry from campaigners and activists
U.S. President Joe Biden has previously singled out Exxon Mobil for making “more money than God” last year.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies are poised to report record annual profits, raking in extraordinary revenues following a year of volatile fossil fuel prices amid Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine.
Oil majors Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies are slated to report a combined profit of $190 billion for 2022 when their final quarterly results are released in the coming days, according to estimates from analysts collated by Refinitiv.
Flush with cash, the energy giants are expected to use their windfall profits to reward shareholders with higher dividends and share buybacks.
U.S. President Joe Biden has previously accused oil companies of reaping a “windfall of war,” while simultaneously refusing to help lower gas prices at the pump for American consumers. In June last year, Biden singled out Exxon Mobil for making “more money than God.”
Exxon Mobil spokesperson Erin McGrath told CNBC higher energy prices are “largely as a result of a supply-demand imbalance” and that it is the firm’s investments over the last five years that are driving quarterly results.
McGrath said Exxon sees its success “as an ‘and’ equation, one in which we can produce the energy and products society needs — and — be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our own operations and also those from other companies.”
Spokespeople for BP and Shell did not wish to comment ahead of full-year results, while Chevron and TotalEnergies did not respond when contacted by CNBC.
In recent quarters, Big Oil executives have said the significant disruption to global energy markets due to the war in Ukraine has reaffirmed the importance of helping to solve “the energy trilemma.” This, according to a statement to investors from BP CEO Bernard Looney late last year, refers to “secure, affordable and lower carbon energy.”
“They are profiting from the current increase in oil and gas prices, and they are betting on it. And what you see is actually increased investment in oil and gas,” Agathe Bounfour, oil campaign lead at the NGO Transport & Environment, told CNBC via telephone.
“I think given that prices of oil and gas are likely to stay up, it’s important for us to reflect on the fact that these profits are going to stay high at the same time as many households are struggling with energy prices,” Bounfour said.
“There’s not much point [in] raising revenues and subsidizing the industry at the same time,” she added.
‘The year the empire struck back’
The Big Oil profits are seen from within the industry as something of a vindication. The energy giants came under immense pressure from shareholders and activists to invest in clean energy as oil demand cratered in the peak of 2020 lockdowns.
The push toward green reform lost momentum last year, however.
The oil and gas industry has sought to underline the importance of energy security amid calls for a rapid transition to renewables, typically highlighting that demand for fossil fuels remains high.
“I have called 2022 the year the empire struck back,” Mark van Baal, founder of Dutch shareholder activist Follow This, told CNBC via telephone.
“What we saw happening in 2022 is that the oil majors used the high oil prices and the energy crisis to convince investors that the energy crisis should eclipse the climate crisis — and that has caused a setback,” van Baal said.
The logo of Shell on an oil storage silo, beyond railway tanker wagons at the company’s Pernis refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
After ultimately failing with several climate resolutions in 2022, van Baal said it was clear from discussions with oil majors that they were once again determined to fend off activist and shareholder pressure and continue with their core oil and gas businesses.
“The attitude of the oil industry is ‘we have a very handsome business model and we’re going to defend it tooth and nail,'” van Baal said. “The reason it is so handsome is because there are so many externalities not inside their costs — and, of course, the biggest one is the cost of climate change.”
Van Baal added, “My hope is not with the boards of these oil majors, my hope is that the investors will realize that we don’t have time for another round of discussion, another year of engagement and another year of the benefit of the doubt.”
‘Harming both people and the planet’
Record earnings from the West’s largest oil and gas majors have also renewed calls for higher taxes, particularly at a time when surging gas and fuel prices have boosted inflation around the world.
Alice Harrison, fossil fuels campaign leader at advocacy group Global Witness, said, “We must all call out profiteering like this.”
She described the historic revenues for energy giants as “disgraceful” given that “much of this money is being made at the expense of the millions of people who have been pushed into poverty because of the skyrocketing cost of gas.”
“An increased windfall tax to help those struggling to pay their bills, along with a significant boost in renewable energy and home insulation, would end the fossil fuel era that is harming both people and the planet so severely,” Harrison told CNBC via email.
To be sure, burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate emergency.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies during a remote video hearing held by subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on “Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation” in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2021.
Handout | Via Reuters
Block jumped more than 5% on Monday, leading a rally in shares of fintech companies as analysts downplayed the threat of JPMorgan Chase’s reported plan to charge data aggregators for access to customer financial information.
The recovery followed steep declines on Friday, after Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan had circulated pricing sheets outlining potential fees for aggregators like Plaid and Yodlee, which connect fintech platforms to users’ bank data.
In a note to clients on Monday, Evercore ISI analysts said the potential new expenses were “far from a ‘business model-breaking’ cost increase.”
In addition to Block’s rise, PayPal climbed 3.5% on Monday after sliding Friday. Robinhood and Shift4 recorded modest gains.
Broader market momentum helped fuel some of the rebound. The Nasdaq closed at a record, and crypto rallied, with bitcoin climbing past $123,000. Ether, solana, and other altcoins also gained.
Evercore ISI’s analysts said that even if JPMorgan’s changes were implemented, the most immediate effect would be a slight bump in the cost of one-time account setups — perhaps 50 to 60 cents.
Morgan Stanley echoed that view, writing that any impact would be “negligible,” especially for large fintechs that rely more on debit, credit, or stored balances than bank account pulls for transactions.
PayPal doesn’t anticipate much short-term impact, according to a person with knowledge of the issue. The person, who asked not to be named in order to speak about private financial matters, noted that PayPal relies on aggregators primarily for account verification and already has long-term pricing contracts in place.
While smaller fintechs that depend heavily on automated clearing house (ACH) rails or Open Banking frameworks for onboarding and compliance may face real pressure if the fees take effect, analysts said the larger platforms are largely insulated.
WATCH: Congress moves to redraw $3.7 trillion crypto market rules, opening door to Wall Street
The global EV market is still charging ahead. According to new numbers from global research firm Rho Motion, 9.1 million EVs were sold worldwide in the first half of 2025, up 28% compared to the same period last year. But not every region is accelerating at the same pace.
China and Europe are doing the heavy lifting
More than half of the world’s EVs this year have been bought in China. That market hit 5.5 million sales in the first six months of 2025 – a 32% jump year-over-year. Around half of new cars bought in China are now electric.
While some Chinese cities’ subsidies have dried up, Rho Motion expects momentum to pick back up later in the year as more funding is released.
In Europe, 2 million EVs were sold in the first half of the year, up 26%. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales also rose 26%, thanks in part to affordable models like the Renault 4 (pictured) and 5 entering the market. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) weren’t far behind, growing 27% year-to-date. Chinese automakers are leaning into PHEVs as a way to work around the EU’s new tariffs on BEVs.
Spain is leading the pack with EV sales soaring 85% so far this year. Its generous MOVES III incentive program was extended in April and has kept sales strong. The UK and Germany are also seeing solid growth – 32% and 40%, respectively. France, however, is slumping. With subsidies cut, EV sales there have dropped 13%.
North America is stuck in the slow lane
Things aren’t looking quite as bright in North America. EV sales in the US, Canada, and Mexico are up just 3% so far this year.
Mexico is the one bright spot, with a 20% boost. The US is up 6%. But Canada is down a whopping 23%.
And things could get bumpier. On July 4, Trump signed Congress’s big bill into law, which axes all the Inflation Reduction Act EV tax credits. Those consumer credits for EVs now officially end on September 30.
Just over half of the EVs sold in the US this year qualified for those credits. Rho Motion predicts a rush in Q3 before the subsidies disappear – and a decline in sales after that.
Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester said, “With Trump’s latest cuts in his ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ the US could struggle to see any growth in the EV market overall in 2025.”
Global EV sales snapshot, H1 2025 vs H1 2024
- Global: 9.1 million (+28%)
- China: 5.5 million (+32%)
- Europe: 2.0 million (+26%)
- North America: 0.9 million (+3%)
- Rest of world: 0.7 million (+40%)
Read more: China breaks records as global EV sales hit 7.2 million in 2025
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Lucid’s electric sedan can drive further, charge faster, and packs more advanced tech than most of the competition. That might explain why it’s leading the segment. The Lucid Air remained the best-selling luxury EV sedan in the US after widening its lead in the Q2.
The Lucid Air is America’s best-selling luxury EV sedan
The 2025 Lucid Air Pure arrived as the “World’s most efficient car” with an EPA-estimated range of 420 miles and a record 146 MPGe.
It just set a new Guinness World Record last week for the longest journey by an electric car after travelling 749 miles (1,205 km) on a single charge.
That record was set in the range-topping Lucid Air Grand Touring model, which is rated for up to 512 miles of EPA-estimated range. On the WLTP scale, it’s rated at 597 miles (960 km). Either way, it still crushed the estimates.
According to second-quarter sales data, released by Kelley Blue Book on Monday, the Lucid Air is still America’s best-selling luxury EV.
Lucid sold 2,630 Air models in Q2, up 10% from the previous year. Through the first half of 2025, Lucid Air sales are up 17% with 5,094 units sold.
Tesla, on the other hand, only sold 1,435 Model Ss during the quarter, 71% fewer than it did in Q2 2024. Tesla Model S sales in the US are down 70% through the first half of the year at 2,715.
Although Porsche Taycan sales were up 32% with 1,064 models sold, the significantly upgraded 2025 model year was expected to see even more demand. Porsche has 2,083 Taycans in the US this year, up just 1% from 2024.
Other luxury EV sedans, such as the BMW i5 (1,434), i7 (820), and the Mercedes EQS (498), experienced steep double-digit sales declines year-over-year.
And it’s not just electric luxury sedans. The Lucid Air is currently outselling many gas-powered vehicles in its segment.
Lucid’s first electric SUV, the Gravity, is also rolling out. Although only five were sold in the second quarter, Lucid is quickly scaling production. Lucid aims to produce 20,000 vehicles this year, more than double the roughly 9,000 it built in 2024.
Earlier today, Lucid’s interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, confirmed during an interview with Bloomberg that the company expects higher Gravity output in the second half of the year.
The interview was at the grand opening of Panasonic’s new battery cell plant in De Soto, Kansas. Winterhoff said Lucid will start using new cells from the facility, but not until next year.
Lucid’s CEO stressed the importance of establishing a local supply chain, as policy changes under the Trump Administration are taking effect. Lucid and Panasonic are collaborating to localize EV materials, such as graphite. Last month, Lucid secured a multi-year supply agreement with Graphite One for US-sourced Graphite.
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