Norwegian Gas and Oil Giant Gets Rich from War against Iran
High oil prices and geopolitical tensions contributed to Equinor delivering its highest result in over three years in the second quarter of this year.
The results for the months of April, May, and June show that Equinor had a so-called adjusted profit before tax of 11.48 billion dollars.
The result corresponds to 111 billion Norwegian kroner and is the highest adjusted operating profit since the first quarter of 2023.
“Right now we make the most money from oil and gas. There are high prices due to the unrest in the world. At the same time, we have very good production. We control that ourselves, and there have been good results in production on the Norwegian shelf,” says Equinor CEO Anders Opedal to NRK.
It was previously expected that the result would land at 11.37 billion dollars, according to figures Equinor itself has obtained from analysts.
Higher Oil and Gas Prices
In the same period last year, the result ended at 6.53 billion dollars, equivalent to 63 billion kroner.
The large profit this year is greatly helped by the prices of oil and gas in the world market in April, May, and June, admits the Equinor CEO.
“We see that oil prices are 50% higher in this quarter than in the corresponding quarter last year. Gas prices are 30% higher. This is because there is simply too little oil coming into the market due to the Strait of Hormuz, and little gas coming out of Qatar,” says Opedal.
Equinor had previously announced that they were paid well for the oil in the second quarter. On the Norwegian shelf, the company expects an average price of between 101 and 103 dollars per barrel.
In the same quarter last year, the company received 65.4 dollars per barrel for oil on the Norwegian shelf.
Revenue in the second quarter of this year ended at 12.99 billion dollars, or 125 billion kroner.
Equinor reports production of 2.16 million barrels per day during April, May, and June—up 3% from the same period last year.
“Production from new fields, including the start-up of Eirin and Symra, contributed to a 4% increase in production on the Norwegian shelf compared to the second quarter of 2025,” the company writes.
Demanding to Invest in Renewables
Although the company is making a lot of money from high oil and gas prices, that does not mean that Equinor is spending extra money on renewables.
“Profitability always comes first. So we work to find profitable projects, both within oil and gas, but also renewables,” says Opedal.
“But of course oil and gas will be the largest part of our business for many, many years to come.”
The company has made this clear several times, including at the Capital Markets Day in June when Equinor announced full steam ahead on the Norwegian continental shelf until 2035.
Has Equinor Given Up on Its Green Initiative?
“No, in fact, we have never invested as much in renewables as we are doing right now. We have three large offshore wind projects under construction in the US, the UK, and Poland,” says the Equinor CEO, adding:
“But then we see that there will be a shortage of profitable projects in the future. So for a period of time we will probably see that it will be more demanding to invest in renewables.”
Source: NRK (in Norwegian)