Chevron and Exxon earnings soar as Trump threatens price interventions
By Alma Cordero · Reporting from El Paso ·
The numbers are staggering, aren't they? Chevron’s net income soared nearly 400% compared to the same period last year; Exxon posted profits over double its previous quarter.
When Geopolitics Becomes Profit Margin
The numbers are staggering, aren't they? Chevron’s net income soared nearly 400% compared to the same period last year; Exxon posted profits over double its previous quarter. The headlines—which I assume you saw plastered across CNBC and LinkedIn—are all about record-breaking second-quarter earnings for America’s biggest oil companies. Mike Wirth, Chevron CEO, stands up to say, “We’re kind of firing on all cylinders, which is good, because the world needs it.” Meanwhile, Darren Woods attributes Exxon's performance to "so much disruption."
What they are selling us—and what the financial press has been so eager to buy into—is a narrative of market resilience, fueled by global chaos. The facts are clear: these profits were generated not by stable demand or technological innovation, but by supply shocks stemming from conflicts in the Persian Gulf and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. DW reported that Brent crude broke above $100 a barrel following the resumption of US and Iranian attacks. Suddenly, geopolitical instability is no longer a threat to stability; it’s an asset class for the boardrooms of Houston and New York.
The Price of Fear: From Barrel to Pump
This isn't just about barrels per day or quarterly earnings reports. This story lands first on the gas pump. Consumers are paying $4.10 a gallon for regular unleaded, according to one report, while diesel climbs even higher. And who is holding the receipts? The people at the top.
The sheer scale of this profit boom—the billions accumulating in upstream and downstream segments—is breathtaking, but it demands a reckoning with history. When resource-rich nations have leverage, they know exactly how to wield it. We must look back to 1973, when the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) implemented a total oil embargo against countries that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. That was not market fluctuation; it was geopolitical weaponization.
The mechanism is identical: a conflict—whether military or diplomatic—is used to restrict supply, causing immediate and massive global price shocks that disproportionately benefit the major producers and refiners. The CEOs are simply running a more sophisticated version of the same playbook their predecessors ran decades ago. They aren't optimizing for efficiency; they are monetizing vulnerability.
A History Written in Oil Price Spikes
The illusion here is that these profits are earned through pure market competition. But when you trace this profit boom back, you find only one constant: centralized control over a critical resource. The fact that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is examining potential price gouging—as noted by nypost.com—is not an accident; it’s the state finally noticing the predatory nature of the system.
We cannot mistake this for free-market success. This profit surge is a perfect, modern echo of the Arab oil embargo: the power to restrict supply becomes the ultimate source of wealth and influence, allowing corporate entities to dictate terms far beyond what any consumer or worker can negotiate. The border region—where I grew up watching my father’s crew get picked up by Border Patrol bumper-to-bumper—taught me that control over movement is always about who has the leverage. Here, the commodity is oil, and the leverage belongs only to those few people with access to the taps and the boardroom table.
The system does not reward effort or labor; it rewards scarcity and conflict. It ensures that every time a geopolitical crisis flares up—be it in the Gulf or on the border—the first thing that swells is the balance sheet of the oil giants, while the rest of us are left paying for their quarterly windfall with our own dwindling wages.
Sources
- CNBC: Exxon and Chevron profits surge on rising oil prices due to Iran war
- DW: Oil prices jump as Hormuz, Red Sea crises deepen
- cryptobriefing.com: Chevron and Exxon earnings soar as Trump threatens price interventions
- nypost.com: Big Oil heads for biggest profits in years as Trump pushes for lower ...