ExxonMobil and Chevron reported billions in third-quarter profits this week, a windfall landing as American families stare down a national average of $4.20 for a gallon of regular gas, according to AAA data cited by Fox Business.
That figure is down slightly from $4.43 a month ago but sits well above the $3.03 average from a year ago. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' September consumer price index showed gas prices up 9.1% on a monthly basis and 34.2% year over year.
According to Fox Business, ExxonMobil — the largest U.S. oil producer by market capitalization — booked more revenue from refining than from exploration and drilling for the first time in at least six years. The company more than doubled its third-quarter profits compared with 2025, while Chevron nearly tripled its own, according to an analysis reported by Truthout and The New York Times.
That analysis put collective profits across 50 large U.S. oil and gas companies at over $130 billion between April and September — nearly three times the industry's profits over the same stretch last year — while Americans shelled out an extra $148 billion on gas and diesel over eight months of war with Iran, per the same reporting.
What's Driving the Spike
The price surge traces to supply shocks from two active conflicts. Fox Business reports that the war in Iran has disrupted oil flows out of the Middle East, while the Russia-Ukraine war has seen energy infrastructure targeted on both sides. The fighting in Iran began in late February, and BLS data shows gas prices swung upward 21.2% in March, 5.4% in April and 7% in May. A summer lull allowed prices to fall 9.7% in June and 2.9% in July before concerns about the conflict pushed them back up.
Diesel has been hit even harder. AAA recorded a record average of $6.52 a gallon on Sept. 22. That number matters well beyond the truck stop — diesel moves the freight that stocks grocery shelves, and those costs get baked into the price of everything consumers buy.
Multiple companies posted their highest-ever quarterly profits in recent months, including Valero Energy, according to the Times analysis cited by Truthout. Both ExxonMobil and Chevron are forecast to potentially set record full-year profits.
Kudlow: Media Fixated on Gas, Ignoring the Boom
Fox Business host Larry Kudlow pushed back on the coverage, arguing that media outlets overemphasize gasoline prices while ignoring a robust consumer spending boom. Kudlow pointed to consumer spending growing at 3.5% after inflation.
The Washington Post framed the earnings reports as landing "at an awkward time for GOP" — a telling admission from the legacy press that the story is being read through an electoral lens rather than an economic one.
What It Means for Your Wallet
For the trucking industry, $6.52 diesel is an operating cost that gets passed down the chain to every shopper. For commuters, $4.20 regular is roughly $1.17 more per gallon than this time last year — about $17 extra on a 15-gallon fill-up, every single week for millions of workers who have no choice but to drive.
The companies booking these numbers are the same ones Americans depend on to keep fuel moving. When refining margins — not drilling — become the profit center, as Fox Business noted in Exxon's case, the squeeze shows up at the pump first.
It is not yet known what, if anything, the administration plans to do about refining capacity or the supply disruptions tied to the Iran conflict. What is known: the profits are posted, and the prices are on the sign.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what this is. Two American oil giants just posted historic profits while the average family pays more than four bucks a gallon to get to work — and the same establishment press that spent years hyping "greedflation" suddenly wants to talk about anything else.
The Washington Post called the timing "awkward for the GOP." Awkward for whom? The war in Iran and the Russia-Ukraine conflict are driving global supply shocks, and no president controls the spot price of crude. But that doesn't mean Americans should shrug while refiners rake in record margins and diesel hits $6.52 a gallon.
Here's the America First question nobody in Washington wants to ask: if the conflict is the cause, why are the profits the story? Because the same corporate giants that benefit from global chaos have spent decades blocking domestic refining capacity, and both parties have let them. Drill, baby, drill means nothing if the bottleneck is at the refinery, not the wellhead.
Kudlow is right that the economy is stronger than the media admits — 3.5% consumer spending after inflation is real. But patriots don't have to choose between defending the boom and demanding relief at the pump. We can do both. The question is whether anyone in power will force the oil majors to answer for why war abroad means record profits here while working families eat the difference.
Watch the pump. Watch the profits. And remember in November who was paying attention.
