Big Oil's Windfall Earnings Threaten to Reignite Trump's Price-Gouging Push
US Crude Oil, Product Inventories Fall Even As Hormuz Traffic Begins to Flow What I Cover Irina Slav has been writing about global energy markets since 2007, covering the oil and gas industry, energy security, commodities, and the… Chevron and Exxon are expected to report their best quarter since 2022 this month, as the war that the United States and Israel started against Iran on February 28 drove much tighter oil and gas supply.
This could be a problem for President Trump who has already slammed Big Oil for keeping prices at the pump too high.
The two biggest American oil companies are reporting second-quarter results at the end of this month and, according toReuters, will book the best quarter since 2022, when Western sanctions on Russia following its incursion into Ukraine pushed international benchmarks to well over $100 per barrel.
and Israeli strikes against Iran prompted the latter to close the Strait of Hormuz, which in turn caused oil and gas prices to skyrocket—although they never quite reached 2022 levels.
As usual, when crude oil prices rise, so do the prices of the end products made from crude, boosting refiners’ bottom lines.
crude played a central role in offsetting some of the lost supply from the Middle East, with U.S.
producers selling abroad record volumes of crude and refined products,turningthe country into the world’s largest oil and fuels exporter.
This, however, has come at a price for Americans.Related: Saudi Arabia Ships 34 Million Barrels Through Hormuz Despite Thin Tanker Traffic Retail fuel prices flew higher in the wake of those strikes by the U.S.
and Israel that started the war with Iran, and although they never really hit the highs from 2022 when a gallon of regular gasoline topped $5, they were high enough to anger the U.S.
“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil.
Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being ‘gouged’,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial at the end of last month.
“I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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