Spanish energy companies Repsol and Moeve reported sharp increases in profit for the first nine months of 2026, according to figures highlighted in an El País analysis. Repsol earned €5.006 billion, 325% more than in the same period a year earlier, while Moeve earned €1.430 billion, up 481%, or 140% on an adjusted net profit basis.
The analysis takes issue with describing the gains as “windfall profits,” or “beneficios caídos del cielo.” It argues that the extra fortune did not fall from the sky but came from steep prices for fuel, electricity and gas shouldered by companies and workers. Energy crises, it says, multiply the extraction of rents from the productive economy and households for the benefit of a few. The piece links the additional energy profits to the rise in oil prices caused by the war with Iran.
By contrast, the Spanish economy is not in recession and is growing much faster than Europe, but its 2.7% year-on-year growth rate does not compare with the pace of the energy companies' profit increases. The analysis also points to the financial sector: the six main banks have broken profit records for five years, earning €29.253 billion in the first nine months of 2026, 15% more than a year earlier and triple the rate of the wider economy.
The piece recalls an anecdote told by economist José Luis Sampedro (1917-2013) in the 2005 book “Escribir es vivir,” written with the poet Olga Lucas (1947). Sampedro described Spain in 1960, the year after the Stabilization Plan, when the economy sank but banks earned a lot. A journalist asked a leading banker how profits could rise while production fell, and the banker replied: “We haven't been able to avoid it.” Sampedro's explanation was that the system was designed for the banker to win: if transactions fall, interest rates can offset the expected loss and even exceed income.
The article also cites a U.S. example. It says Democracy Now reported on a study by Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee of Congress indicating that President Trump's investments in oil and gas shares had doubled in value over the past year because of the war he chose against Iran. It quotes Trump as saying: “That will be the headline. But I said I don't care. I'm going to say it: We're making a crazy fortune.”
On policy, the analysis notes that the Spanish government tried to correct the market distortion with an extraordinary levy that collected €1.695 billion from banks and €1.164 billion from energy companies in 2024. In 2025, however, energy companies contributed nothing after right-wing parties succeeded in defeating the levy in Congress. To address what the piece calls the irrationality of the system, it says other alternatives must be explored, such as public participation in companies whose income does not come from their own activity.
Sources: El País Economía.