American oil and gas giants raked in massive spring profits while fighting between Iran and the US impeded petroleum shipments and consumers around the world paid more for fuel and confronted shortages. 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, reports the
AP. The money that oil companies accrued between the beginning of April and the end of June could receive extra scrutiny this year. Gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel prices climbed during that period, increasing costs for drivers and airline passengers. Supplies ran low in some countries, leading to sporadic fuel rationing in Australia and government office closures in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The attacks between the US and Iran resulted in huge profits for some of the biggest publicly traded oil companies as they sold their goods for higher prices. Exxon Mobil on Friday 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. 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.
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 nonprofit Global Witness. "There are constituencies around the world who are having a very good crisis, and the oil producers are one of them," said Patrick Galey, fossil fuels lead at Global Witness. "When you compare that to the hundreds of millions of people who are struggling with rolling blackouts, with electricity curbs, rationing, waiting in line for food queues ... we don't think that it's a justifiable price for the rest of the world to be paying." The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the US, which was below $3 before the Iran war, reached $4.11 Friday.
Energy companies such as Exxon and Chevron do not set the price of American oil, which ricocheted from $68 to $115 a barrel during the quarter. It's driven by supply and demand, and what traders, refiners, and other buyers are willing to pay. Nevertheless, 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. "It's fair to put a windfall profits tax on inordinate windfall profits rather than cut off children's food programs," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who introduced the Senate version of the legislation. Whitehouse's measure and a companion bill introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna of California would amend the US tax code to impose a per-barrel excise tax on companies that produced or imported at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025. The tax would be 50% of the difference between the oil price at the time of the levy and the average price per barrel last year. Similar proposals failed to pass in previous years.
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