Two of the country’s largest oil companies reported sharply higher profits as gas stayed above $4 a gallon.
Connecticut drivers are paying more than a dollar a gallon above last year’s prices
President Trump, who promised in 2024 to cut gas below $2, has praised the windfall.
ExxonMobil and Chevron reported soaring profits Friday as Connecticut drivers kept paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, in what AAA called the first October on record with a national average above $4.
Exxon’s profit doubled from the same period a year earlier, and Chevron’s earnings climbed more than 180%, NBC News reported. Exxon also said it would raise the dividend it pays shareholders. BP reported its largest profit in 18 years the night before.
The results came after months of oil prices above $100 a barrel, following the launch of the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran in late February. The war has disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the global benchmark, closed Friday just under $118 a barrel, according to NBC.
In Connecticut, regular gas averaged $4.26 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA, about $1.23 more than a year ago. Drivers in the Bridgeport area paid an average of $4.35.
Pump prices have edged down this fall. The national average dropped 5 cents over the past week to $4.22, AAA reported Thursday, but the motor club said “crude oil prices above $100 per barrel, however, are limiting further declines at the pump.” Earlier this month, AAA said prices were “the highest they’ve ever been for this time of year.” Before the war began, the national average was $2.98, Money reported.
Forecasters said drivers should not expect much relief soon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that the national average could slip below $4 in December, but told Money its forecast carried “above-average uncertainty.”
“I think U.S. gas prices will stay above $4 a gallon through the midterms, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see something on either side of $4 a gallon by year’s end,” Tom Kloza, chief energy advisor at Gulf Oil, told Money. “If I had to bet, I’d bet on a U.S. average above $4 [per gallon] heading into 2027.”
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the conflicts involving Iran, Ukraine and Russia made any forecast difficult. “As a result, due to the current and ongoing geopolitical tensions, it looks like prices this year will be near record levels,” De Haan told Money.
Diesel has risen even faster, up 78% nationally since January, according to NBC. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods told CNBC on Friday that the company’s refineries were running at “record levels of utilization” and that a global shortage of refining capacity “is what’s driving product prices as high as it is.”
The Trump regime has issued several orders aimed at lowering fuel costs, NBC reported, but gas prices have climbed 40% since the war began. As a candidate in 2024, Trump promised his energy plan would bring “gasoline below $2 a gallon.” The national average is now more than double that.
At an Oct. 24 campaign rally, Trump said aides had urged him not to talk about oil profits “because people are paying a little higher.”
“I don’t give a damn: I’m going to say it,” Trump said. “We’re making a freaking fortune.”
By Kevin Coughlin
