"I'll say it loud and clear, I'm not happy about it," is the way President Donald Trump has responded over the past few weeks when asked about high profits being made by oil companies since the war in Iran started.
Texas-based Exxon Mobil said in its second-quarter 2026 report on Friday that it made more than $14 billion in the second quarter of 2026, while Chevron, which has been working to make Texas its base, earned $12 billion.
""Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much. Too much money," the president said.
The quarterly earnings compare with the $12 billion Chevron made in the summer of 2022, and with the tens of billions of dollars big oil companies lost in 2020, as American First Refining's CEO says. This has some wondering whether there is any collusion going on.
John Calce points out that "Exxon lost $22 billion in 2020. The reality is there's a lot of pricing pressure in the world right now, and oil companies are working to keep the world supplied."
President Trump's idea of returning to consumers at least some of those profits made off the worldwide oil squeeze caused by the Iran war is a good idea, he says, but there are limits.
"The reality is in business in this country, you're capitalists and you take risks and you get rewarded, and you get rewarded by making more money."
And the president's idea that the US needs to reopen refineries that have been closed, such as a big one on the Caribbean island of St. Croix, is also a good notion.
"But a lot of the refineries that closed generally closed because they're just kind of worn out, and they're at a point now where they just can't bring them back online."