U.S. Oil companies report record profits amid war-driven refining surge

🗞️ Story file #1174

U.S. Oil companies report record profits amid war-driven refining surge

Oct 30, 11 AM ET to Nov 1, 1 AM ET · 1 outlet not rated for lean

21outlets carried it
🫏10 · 6 · 4🐘left · center · right
1.6 dayson the front pages
12front pages at once, at its peak
29 sof TV captions
3radio newscasts
36people retold it online

📰 read it at: Mother Jones The New Republic AP CNBC CNN Los Angeles Times NBC News NPR New York Times The Independent Bloomberg Financial Times Fortune Reuters Scripps News Straight Arrow News Fox Business IJR New York Post Newsmax Crooks and Liars

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

Oct 30, 11 AM ETfirst on a front page: NBC News
Oct 30, 5 PM ETfirst on TV: MSNOW
Oct 30, 9 PM ETfirst on the radio: NPR News Now
Oct 31, 4 AM ETpeak: on 12 front pages
Oct 31, 5 AM ETretold online by 36 people

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Oct 30, 11 AM to Nov 1, 1 AM ET (peak 20), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right · not rated

Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline, and a headline swapped for a new one between our hourly looks runs on to it. A gap means a look found the story gone from that front page. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

💬 Quoted

“We're Making A Freaking Fortune”2

phrases its headlines put in quotation marks; the bar is how many outlets did

📌 Linked by aggregators

1 Google News

aggregators linking to it from their front page (they don't count as outlets covering it)

✏️ 3 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)

CNBC (4 wordings): “Chevron and Exxon beat earnings expectations as refining profits soar on high diesel fuel prices” → “Trump called out Big Oil profits. Refining earnings have surged since”
Reuters (5 wordings): “ExxonMobil beats third-quarter profit estimates on refining boom” → “Exxon, Chevron profits beat forecasts, refining margins surge during wars - Reuters”
The Independent (2 wordings): “As you paid way more at the gas pump, Big Oil made $135B in profit during the Iran War” → “As you paid way more at the gas pump, Big Oil made $135B”

📰 Every outlet's headline 21left to right by AllSides rating

Mother Jones🕒 Oct 31, 12 PM ET Trump’s Iran War Brings On Record Oil Company Profits
The New Republic🕒 Oct 30, 12 PM ET U.S. Oil Industry Reports Blowout Profit as Trump Brags About It
AP🕒 Oct 30, 12 PM ET ExxonMobil and Chevron top Q3 estimates on higher prices and strong output
CNBC🕒 Oct 30, 9 AM ET Chevron and Exxon beat earnings expectations as refining profits soar on high diesel fuel prices
CNN🕒 Oct 30, 10 AM ET Big Oil is raking in huge profits. Shareholders like Trump are cashing in. You’re paying for it with high gas prices
Los Angeles Times🕒 Oct 31, 4 AM ET ExxonMobil y Chevron superan previsiones del 3er trimestre por alza de precios y producción récord
NBC News🕒 Oct 30, 11 AM ET ExxonMobil and Chevron report blowout profits as Trump touts benefits of high oil prices
NPR🕒 Oct 31, 7 AM ET Oil company earnings skyrocket — again
New York Times🕒 Oct 30, 7 AM ET U.S. Oil Industry Earned Over $130 Billion in Profit During Iran War
The Independent🕒 Oct 30, 11 AM ET As you paid way more at the gas pump, Big Oil made $135B in profit during the Iran War
Bloomberg🕒 Oct 30, 7 AM ET Chevron Exceeds Forecasts on Oil Prices, Swollen Fuel-Making Returns
Financial Times🕒 Oct 30, 7 AM ET ExxonMobil and Chevron post bumper profits and warn on diesel supplies
Fortune🕒 Oct 30, 3 PM ET Exxon and Chevron report massive profits after Trump brags U.S. energy companies are ‘making a freaking fortune’ just before midterms
Reuters🕒 Oct 30, 9 AM ET ExxonMobil beats third-quarter profit estimates on refining boom
Scripps News🕒 Oct 30, 5 PM ET Big oil’s profits soar as Iran War keeps drivers paying more at the pump
Straight Arrow News🕒 Oct 30, 6 PM ET As gas prices soar, American oil companies report massive profit gains
Fox Business🕒 Oct 30, 6 PM ET Oil giants pocket billions in profits as Americans pay more at the pump
IJR🕒 Oct 30, 11 AM ET Oil Majors Report Surging Profits Amid War
New York Post🕒 Oct 30, 2 PM ET Big Oil rakes in over $130B in profits as soaring gas prices squeeze consumers amid Iran war
Newsmax🕒 Oct 30, 9 AM ET Exxon, Chevron Profits Jump on War-Fueled Refining Boom
Crooks and Liars🕒 Oct 29, 8 PM ET Oil Giants Post Record Profits As Trump Brags ‘We’re Making A Freaking Fortune’

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

left
leans left
center

minutes its captions were on screen, by channel; the disc is the network's lean

🫏 MSNOW 29 s

hourly newscasts that carried it, by show; beside the count, how often it was the lead story, or the highest it came in the running order

🫏 NPR News Now 3× · best #3

podcasts, newsletters and streams that talked about it, by show; the bar is episodes; the disc is the show's lean by reputation

🕵️ investigative reporting on it and 🃏 satire joking about it (jokes, never counted as coverage); the bar is pieces

🕵️🤷 No investigator or satirist matched to it yet.

what people online made of it

🧩 How it's being told

The stories under this news, from our motif index, and who told each: the shows we follow by their lean, people online, fact-checkers. A story people tell, not a claim that it's true; claims are matched to this story by our tools, so a link can be wrong.

🧩 Blood money 🧶 online
“Donald Trump and big oil companies are profiting from an illegal and senseless war in Iran that increases fuel costs for Americans.” and 2 more
🧩 The war hits your wallet 🧶 online
“Donald Trump and big oil companies are profiting from an illegal and senseless war in Iran that increases fuel costs for Americans.”
🧩 War profiteer 🧶 online
“Donald Trump and big oil companies are profiting from an illegal and senseless war in Iran that increases fuel costs for Americans.” and 2 more

🧶 Retold online

Donald Trump's war with Iran is making a fortune for oil companies and billionaires. Nov 1: told by 23 people; told before on Nov 4, Oct 31, Oct 29, Oct 28, Oct 27, Oct 14, Oct 9
🦋 Widely seen on Bluesky

🦋 a post on Bluesky · 3464 likes, 1572 reposts
🦋 a post on Bluesky · 1 likes, 1 reposts
The Trump administration and oil companies are profiting from the suffering and deaths caused by the war with Iran. Nov 1: told by 5 people; told before on Nov 4, Oct 31, Oct 29, Oct 28, Oct 27, Oct 14, Oct 9
Carbon capture and storage is a scam and a fantasy technology used by fossil fuel companies to justify continued drilling. Oct 31: told by 8 people (same issue)

On Folklore: the latest in full, with their motifs and who is telling them.

🗣️ Names in it

ChevronExxonMobilExxonChevron and ExxonOil MajorsWar

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

the running story it belongs to

🌱 A story of its own so far: no saga yet.