Sharply lower profit from making fuel took a big bite out of Chevron Corp.’s third-quarter earnings, which the oil company said Tuesday would be “significantly below” the record $5.4 billion it earned during this year’s second quarter, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The announcement by the nation’s second-largest oil company wasn’t a surprise but is nonetheless one of the strongest signals yet that industrywide, record-setting results have come to an end and that oil companies are going to be posting smaller profits in the quarters to come.

San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron didn’t provide financial details Tuesday but said the results also would be hurt by $700 million in net charges for asset impairment, environmental remediation, tax adjustments and other items. The interim report, which covers only a portion of the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, is a preview of the earnings report the company will issue Nov. 2.

“We’ve left the peak earnings behind now, and it is going to be more challenging going forward,” said Fadel Gheit, an oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. who owns Chevron shares. “Most companies will have lower production volumes, higher per-unit costs and sharply lower refining and marketing earnings. The only bright spot was higher oil prices, and that was offset by all the other negatives.”

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