Iran War Sends Fuel Prices Soaring Amid Ongoing Energy Disruptions
Top US oil producers ExxonMobil and Chevron warned of continued high fuel prices due to the ongoing Iran war, which is causing major energy disruptions. Global supplies of diesel and other refined products will likely remain tight in the second half of the year, leading to persistently high prices.
The companies reported large jumps in second-quarter refining profits as declining fuel stockpiles combined with curtailed exports from China and refinery outages in Russia led to higher margins. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said that demand for distillates including diesel and heating oil is unlikely to decline over the long term, putting upward pressure on product pricing.
ExxonMobil ran its US refineries at high capacity and had a record second quarter for diesel production, while Chevron had record throughput at its US refineries of more than one million barrels per day. However, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said it is critical that shipping resumes through the Strait of Hormuz to supply more crude to the market.