Chevron Profit Nearly Quadruples as Gas Hits $4 Amid Iran War

Chevron just posted one of its biggest quarters ever, and drivers are footing the bill. CVX earnings quadrupled year-over-year as the U.S.-Iran conflict choked off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and sent crude and gasoline prices sharply higher.

The numbers

Chevron, based in Houston, nearly quadrupled its profits to $12.07 billion, up 385% from the same quarter last year, and reported $70.06 billion in revenue, up 56% from the same time last year.

Exxon Mobil reported doubling its second-quarter profits to $14.53 billion, up 105% from the same time a year ago. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in $116.02 billion in revenue, up 42% from the same time last year.

Six of Europe’s largest oil companies posted first-quarter profits of $22 billion altogether, a total which was 43% higher than the same time last year, according to Global Witness.

Why the print was this big

The conflict, now in its sixth month, halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that previously served as a delivery route for a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas.

With global supplies constrained, prices for Brent crude, the international standard, soared from about $70 to above $100 a barrel for much of March, April and May, and at one point reached $126.

Outfits such as Exxon and Chevron, which not only extract oil and gas but also own refineries, are in the best position to profit from the current market conditions, said Tom Seng, assistant professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University. Refineries turn crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil.

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The consumer side

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S., which was below $3 before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, reached $4.11 Friday. That’s about $1 more than the cost of a gallon at this point last year.

Supplies ran low in some countries, leading to sporadic fuel rationing in Australia and government office closures in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Refiners are the other winners

Refineries that have ample oil to work with, including those in the US, are making healthy profits, particularly when they make jet fuel and diesel, which are priced about 41% higher in the US than before the Strait of Hormuz was blocked.

American refineries are running at near-full capacity and poised to benefit because some refineries in the Middle East and Russia were damaged, while others in Asia can’t get the amount of oil they used to from the Middle East.

Windfall tax risk is back on the table

Democrats in Congress introduced bills in March to tax major oil producers for profits they show from 2026 onward and have the tax proceeds redistributed to consumers. Whitehouse’s measure and a companion bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California would amend the U.S. tax code to impose a per-barrel tax on companies that produced or imported at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025.

“Penalizing the businesses who stood by those countries and provided that product going forward is very short-sighted,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a call with investors Friday.

Options market and stocks to watch

CVX: watch for flow reactions to the 385% profit jump and any hedging around a potential windfall tax headline.

XOM: watch for continuation trades after the doubling of Q2 profit and refining-margin strength.

PSX and VLO: watch refiners as U.S. capacity runs near full and crack spreads stay elevated.

USO: watch the crude ETF as a proxy for Brent moves tied to Strait of Hormuz headlines. See more market news here.

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