ExxonMobil Earns $14.5 Billion and Chevron Posts Record $12.2 Billion in Q2 as Iran War Drives Refining Margins Higher

ExxonMobil reported second-quarter 2026 net income of $14.5 billion, or $3.48 per diluted share, doubling its year-ago result. Adjusted earnings reached $14.7 billion, or $3.52 per share. Free cash flow hit $17.2 billion, and the company returned $9.4 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.

Chevron posted a record $12.2 billion in Q2 net income, nearly five times its year-ago result. Global production reached 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. U.S. oil output hit 2 million barrels per day, a company record, according to Chevron's July 31 earnings release. The two majors combined for $26.5 billion in Q2 profit.

Refining Margins Drive the Results

ExxonMobil's downstream segment swung from a $1.3 billion loss in Q1 2026 to a $5.5 billion profit in Q2. That $6.8 billion sequential turnaround, spread across 91 operating days, represents a shift of roughly $75 million per day in refining margin. Chevron's refining profit rose to $4.9 billion from $737 million a year earlier, a 565 percent year-over-year increase. Both gains trace to the contraction in Middle Eastern refinery output as the Iran conflict reduced crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

XTO Energy Anchors ExxonMobil's Permian Platform

ExxonMobil's 4.5 million barrels per day Q2 production included record output from the Permian Basin. ExxonMobil acquired XTO Energy in 2010 for $36 billion, making it the largest U.S. natural gas producer at the time. XTO operates interests in roughly 40,000 active oil and gas sites across North America, according to company filings. Its low-cost Delaware Basin acreage underpins ExxonMobil's U.S. unconventional production growth and contributed to the Q2 Permian record.

Hess Guyana Assets Add Scale to Chevron

Chevron closed its acquisition of Hess Corporation in 2024, bringing the Stabroek block offshore Guyana into its upstream portfolio. Stabroek is one of the largest deepwater discoveries of the past decade, with multiple FPSOs now producing on the block. Chevron did not break out standalone Guyana volumes in its Q2 release. The Hess assets contributed to the company's record 4 million barrels per day headline production figure.

Trump Orders DOJ Investigation as Gas Prices Hold at $4.11

President Trump ordered a Justice Department investigation into alleged price gouging by oil companies following the Q2 announcements, according to OilPrice.com reporting from July 31. His administration has repeatedly called for gasoline at $2.25 per gallon, while the national average stood at $4.11 at the time of the announcement. An export ban on U.S. crude is also under active consideration, a measure that would suppress domestic WTI prices while pushing international Brent higher. The DOJ probe adds policy uncertainty to both companies' capital return plans in the second half of 2026.

Brent crude settled at $87.93 per barrel on ICE on July 31, capping a 22.86 percent monthly gain, per TradingEconomics. WTI settled at $84.67 per barrel on CME the same day. Both benchmarks finished above the EIA's Q3 2026 price forecast of $74 per barrel, published in the agency's Short-Term Energy Outlook before the Iran conflict accelerated. As Oil Authority reported August 1, Brent's $13.93 gap above the EIA forecast reflects how far the market has moved beyond pre-conflict consensus.