ExxonMobil and Chevron, the two biggest U.S. oil companies, released their third-quarter earnings Friday morning. The numbers confirm what most drivers already suspected: The wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe have been very good for Big Oil.
ExxonMobil reported profits of $15.4 billion for July through September, roughly double last year’s haul. Set aside one-time charges and the figure rises to $17.5 billion. Chevron took in $10.4 billion on an adjusted basis, nearly triple what it made a year earlier.
Most of the windfall came from refining, the business of turning crude oil into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, and attacks on refineries in Saudi Arabia and Russia have knocked more fuel production offline.
Less fuel on the market means companies with working refineries can charge far more. ExxonMobil is now earning more from refining than from drilling for the first time in at least six years, Reuters reported.
Seven of the world’s largest oil and gas corporations together made almost $63 billion last quarter, about $38 billion more than a year ago.
Pain at the pump
For everyone else, it’s a different story. Regular gas averaged $4.23 a gallon nationally on Oct. 29, according to AAA, up from $3.04 a year ago. Diesel, which moves nearly every truckload of food and goods in the country, now averages $6.33, compared with $3.68 last fall.
Those costs are spilling into everything else. Consumer prices rose 3.7% over the year ending in September, the fastest pace since May, with gasoline driving more than half of September’s jump.
Moody’s Analytics estimates the average household has paid an extra $1,184 for fuel since the war began in late February. Farmers are straining to cover diesel during harvest, and some families face record heating oil bills heading into winter.
‘I don’t give a damn’
President Donald Trump isn’t troubled by the situation. Since he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched their war on Iran, Trump has repeatedly called soaring oil prices a “win” for the country. Just last week, he again said fat industry profits were good for Americans, CNN reported.
At a Georgia rally on Oct. 24, Trump said his advisers had begged him not to boast about oil money while people pay more at the pump. He said he didn’t “give a damn.”
He has personal reasons to cheer. Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee found his oil and gas stocks are now worth as much as $81.6 million, up from a maximum of $46 million at the end of 2025. Chevron and ExxonMobil make up the largest share, and 94% of his oil and gas stock purchases this year came after the war started.
The White House insists nothing improper happened.
Oil cash fuels Republican Party
The industry has long put its political money behind Republicans, and it bet big on Trump. Oil and gas businesses gave $25.8 million to his 2024 campaign and allied groups, according to OpenSecrets, and Chevron chipped in $2 million for his inauguration.
This spring, Chevron handed another $5 million to Freedom 250, the Trump-created outfit that ran the country’s 250th anniversary festivities and offered big donors private access to the president. ExxonMobil also gave $5 million to Trump’s initiative.
The irony is that the war profits fattening the oil companies and the president’s portfolio could cost the party they bankrolled dearly on Tuesday.
A New York Times/Siena poll taken Oct. 12-19 found 73% of likely voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of gas prices. Gas has now cost more on average during Trump’s second term than under Biden, according to a CNN analysis.
Trump won in 2024 promising to bring prices down. But with working families choosing between filling the tank and filling the fridge, many can see who comes out ahead when war and the profit system meet at the gas pump. Whether that anger shows up at the ballot box will be known in a few days.
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