US petrol stays above $4 a gallon while Chevron's quarterly profit reaches $12 billion

Chevron reported its highest quarterly profit in six years on Friday 31 July 2026: adjusted earnings of $6.06 per share, or $12 billion. ExxonMobil posted its best quarterly profit in four years the same day at $9.2 billion, though it fell short of analysts' expectations, and Valero Energy reported its highest ever second quarter profit on Thursday, with net income of $3.7 billion.

The backdrop to those figures is the tension between the United States and Iran and the strain on global oil supply chains at the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one fifth of the world's energy supply travelled before the war. Brent crude was 23% higher in the second quarter than in the first three months of the year. According to Bill Drolet, executive director for mergers and acquisitions at the investment bank The Post Oak Group, Chevron has less than 5% exposure to the strait, and more than 70% of its production is concentrated in the United States.

Those profits have not reached US consumers. According to the American Automobile Association, the average price of a gallon of petrol in the United States is $4.09, down from $4.11 a week earlier but up from $3.82 a month ago. The figure stood at $2.98 when the United States and Israel first struck Iran in late February. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday 3 August that he did not like the size of the earnings.