Exxon and Chevron Post $26.5 Billion Combined Q2 Profit as Trump Demands Gasoline Price Probe
Key Takeaways
- •ExxonMobil and Chevron collectively earned $26.5 billion in the second quarter, with Chevron posting record net income of $12.2 billion and ExxonMobil reporting $14.5 billion.
- •Refining profits surged at both companies, with Chevron's rising to $4.9 billion and ExxonMobil's reaching $5.5 billion, as the Iran conflict and global refinery outages tightened refined product supplies.
- •The national average gasoline price stands at $4.11 per gallon, far above the $2.25 target reiterated by President Trump, who has ordered a Justice Department probe into alleged price gouging.
- •Chevron's global output reached 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day following its Hess acquisition, while ExxonMobil produced 4.5 million bpd with record Permian Basin production.
- •Chevron cautioned that restricting refined product exports would discourage investment in domestic refining capacity and ultimately reduce market supply.
ExxonMobil and Chevron together reported $26.5 billion in second-quarter profits, capitalizing on higher production, surging refining margins, and a global fuel market upended by the Iran war. The results place both companies among the most profitable quarters ever recorded by any American corporation, and have drawn the attention of Washington, which is now investigating why gasoline prices remain elevated.
Chevron posted record net income of $12.2 billion, nearly five times its profit from the same quarter a year earlier. ExxonMobil earned $14.5 billion, double its year-ago result and its strongest quarterly performance since oil prices spiked following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Iran conflict drove crude prices sharply higher after Gulf production declined and tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz collapsed. The disruption had an even greater impact on gasoline and diesel markets, where Middle Eastern refinery outages compounded lost Russian refining capacity and China's reluctance to increase fuel exports.
Refining profits surged at both companies. Chevron's refining earnings jumped to $4.9 billion, up from $737 million a year earlier. ExxonMobil's refining business earned $5.5 billion, rebounding from a $1.3 billion loss in the first quarter. ExxonMobil CFO Neil Hansen said the primary price problem is no longer crude oil itself, but the shrinking availability of refined products. The United States has become the world's largest exporter of refined petroleum products in recent years, meaning domestic fuel prices are increasingly tied to global supply and demand rather than set solely by local conditions.
On the production side, Chevron's global output reached 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, boosted by its Hess acquisition, while its U.S. production hit a record 2 million bpd. ExxonMobil produced 4.5 million bpd, with Permian Basin output also reaching a record. The Permian, spanning West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, has been the primary engine of U.S. oil production growth for over a decade. Both companies ran their refineries near full capacity.
President Donald Trump has reiterated his call for gasoline prices to return to $2.25 per gallon. The national average currently stands at $4.11. That $2.25 benchmark, however, last occurred during the pandemic, when American driving demand collapsed and oil consumption plummeted.
Trump has ordered a Justice Department investigation into alleged price gouging, and an outright export ban is no longer being ruled out. Chevron cautioned that restricting exports would discourage investment in domestic refining capacity and ultimately leave the market with less supply.
Source: OilPrice.com