ExxonMobil and Chevron closed out the week with quarterly profits ranging from nearly $10 billion to more than $15 billion, as the Iran war drives oil prices sharply higher and sends refining margins skyrocketing. The bumper results landed just as President Donald Trump touts the "freaking fortune" U.S. oil companies are raking in at rallies ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The conflict has pushed oil prices well above $100 per barrel, lifted U.S. gasoline costs to record levels for the autumn, and driven diesel to all-time highs. Powered by spiking refining profits, Exxon posted a third-quarter profit of $15.4 billion — more than double the $7.5 billion it earned in the same quarter a year ago and just shy of its highest quarterly profit ever, set in 2022. Chevron likewise earned $9.9 billion, well up from $3.5 billion a year earlier.

"We recognize the impact high prices have on people's lives and economic growth," Exxon CEO Darren Woods said during Friday's earnings call. "We always have, which is why we have been constantly focused on efficiently growing advantaged production to keep markets supplied. That focus and commitment pays off in times like this." Woods specifically cited the company's large refining expansion in Beaumont, Texas, completed in 2023, which he said has kept prices from rising even higher.

The earnings reports — which include huge results from London-based Shell and BP — come as Trump highlights Big Oil's windfall on the campaign trail.

"I could just see the fake headlines. 'President Trump is talking about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump.' That'll be the headline," Trump said. "But I said, 'I don't give a damn. I'm going to say it.' We're making a freaking fortune."

To be fair, the major oil companies have been careful not to brag about how much they are profiting from the Iran war. They do not control the global markets for oil and fuel prices, and like most corporations, they are simply maximizing profits in a favorable commodities environment.

Exxon's stock is up 62% over the past 12 months, including a 1% gain on Friday. Chevron has climbed 53% in a year, also counting a Friday increase of more than 1%.

Companies focused more exclusively on oil refining — as opposed to integrated majors like Exxon and Chevron, which also produce crude — have proved even bigger winners, however, benefiting from roughly 10% of global refining capacity sitting offline in the Middle East and Russia. Refining margins, sometimes called crack spreads, measure the gap between what refiners pay for crude and what they collect for finished fuels like gasoline and diesel, and that gap balloons when capacity drops out of service. Phillips 66 and Valero Energy each reported their most profitable quarters ever this week, at $5.6 billion and $6.8 billion, respectively. Phillips 66's market cap has surged 104% in a year, while Valero has soared 140%. Valero said Friday it is continuing to grow by purchasing the mothballed Houston oil refinery of petrochemical maker LyondellBasell for $320 million.

Eyes on wars

Even if peace deals were reached in Iran and Ukraine, Exxon's Woods said it will take time to restore supply chains and for Russia to repair badly damaged refineries.

"It will take certainly well through next year before we see things getting back closer to normal, but it could be longer than that frankly," Woods said.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth offered similar expectations for elevated global gasoline and diesel prices.

"I would expect [refining] margins to stay elevated in the short term. The world has 10% of its refining capacity offline today," Wirth said. "I would expect margins to eventually moderate as refinery runs recover and export flows increase, but that will take some time."

While the oil companies are clearly benefiting from the global conflicts, they still want more certainty and less volatility for planning purposes. From Exxon's perspective, the company is losing substantial natural gas profits because of shutdowns in Qatar.

"Somehow, someway, the issues in the Middle East are going to have to be resolved and the Strait [of Hormuz] is going to have to open," Woods said. "Those resources are critically needed."

Led by Saudi Arabia and U.S. naval escorts, Middle East oil exports — most of which flow through the strait, one of the world's most critical oil transit chokepoints — have mostly rebounded to prewar levels this fall. China, which has effectively cut its oil imports in half, is now buying more again, and the U.S. is no longer rapidly draining its depleted Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation's emergency crude stockpile. Middle Eastern oil is nonetheless moving at great cost for tanker leases and insurance, as Iran continues to attack vessels, and energy markets anticipate a possible escalation of U.S. strikes after the midterms.

Wirth said Chevron benefits from either owning or holding long-term leases for oil tankers at prewar rates.

"It is a material contributor to the results," Wirth said.

This story was originally reported by Fortune.