Rome, 23 October. Italian oil and gas company Eni, one of the shareholders in Kazakhstan's Kashagan field, quadrupled its net profit for the third quarter of 2026 to €3.2 billion from about €803 million a year earlier, while its standard refining margin rose to $28.1 a barrel from $8.9, the industry outlet InfoTEK reports, citing the company's results.
Adjusted net profit, which excludes one-off items, more than doubled to €2.8 billion; revenue from operations rose 39% to €28 billion. The company attributes the growth to higher oil and gas production and sales and to more than doubled refining profitability across all its businesses. Hydrocarbon production rose 4.2% year on year to 1.829 million barrels of oil equivalent a day.
Refining was the main source of growth. The margin, the difference between the price of oil products and the cost of the crude from which they are made, rose to $28.1 a barrel in the quarter from $8.9 a year earlier and $8.3 in the second quarter of 2026. Since the start of the year it has averaged three times last year's level: $15.5 against $5.8. The refining and chemicals division made a profit of $529 million; according to the company, the result was driven by higher plant utilisation and held back by higher transport costs.
In December Eni will pay an extra dividend of €1.3 billion ($1.46 billion) and increase its share buyback programme by 12% to €3.8 billion ($4.26 billion). This is the third increase in the buyback programme in 2026.
A year ago refining earned Eni $8.9 a barrel; now it earns $28.1: the only thing rising faster than oil is what is made from it.
What it means: Expensive oil and even more expensive fuel brought Eni four times as much profit as a year ago, and refining, which then earned a third as much per barrel, has become the main source of growth. The company is sharing this with shareholders through dividends and buybacks.
Who benefits: Eni shareholders, through the extra dividend and share buybacks. The results do not mention Kashagan separately, but at current oil prices all partners in the project, including KazMunayGas, earn income; the company says nothing about costs to fuel consumers.
Background: KazMunayGas, Eni, Shell, TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil each hold about 16.8% of Kashagan; the project was originally run by Agip KCO, led by Eni. Kashagan oil is exported as part of the CPC Blend grade through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, and the price of CPC Blend is linked to Brent.
List of sources used: InfoTEK, Ulysmedia.kz
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
