Big Oil Cashes In on a War Trump Says Is Making Them Too Rich

BP profit more than doubles, Aramco jumps 33%, as five months of fighting with Iran keep fuel prices elevated

By Barnaby "Bottom-Line" Coyne

The numbers came in fat again this week. BP said its profit more than doubled in the second quarter. Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer, posted a 33% jump. The reason, in both cases, is grim: a five-month war between Israel and Iran that has squeezed oil supply and pushed fossil fuel prices higher.

President Donald Trump isn't celebrating. He's lashed out at Big Oil for "making too much money" off higher fuel prices amid the conflict, according to CNBC. It's an unusual complaint from a president who has otherwise championed the oil industry, but the political math is simple: American drivers feel every cent at the pump, and this White House knows it.

Oil supermajors across the board have reported blowout quarterly profits as the war drags on, benefiting from prices that have climbed while the fighting continues. Trump has separately called the latest round of negotiations with Iran the "last chance" to end the war, even as Tehran denies any talks are happening and oil prices tick up on the uncertainty, CNBC reported.

Here's the plain math for anyone filling a tank or paying a heating bill: when supply gets squeezed by war, somebody pockets the difference before it ever reaches the pump price relief drivers are hoping for. This quarter, that somebody was the oil majors' shareholders. Whether Washington's public scolding turns into any actual policy — price caps, windfall taxes, anything with teeth — is still an open question. For now, it's just words.

Somebody's paying for this. Let's find out who.

— Compiled from reporting by CNBC.

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