Crude Awakening: ExxonMobil & Chevron Profits Nosedive as Oil Prices Tank

Black gold’s losing its luster—and Big Oil’s feeling the squeeze.

Pump jacks running on fumes

ExxonMobil and Chevron just posted ugly Q2 earnings sheets, casualties of a 20% oil price plunge since January. Turns out even fossil fuel giants can’t escape basic economics—who knew?

Wall Street’s playing musical chairs

Analysts are scrambling to downgrade targets while C-suites dust off their old ‘cycle management’ playbooks. Spoiler: that’s corporate speak for dividend cuts coming down the pipe.

The irony? These same execs were high-fiving over ‘energy security’ rhetoric last year. Now they’re learning what crypto traders knew all along—no commodity moons forever.

Key Takeaways

• ExxonMobil and Chevron reported much lower second-quarter profits as the price of oil slumped.
• Adjusted earnings for both oil giants beat estimates, but Chevron missed revenue forecasts.
• Chevron's results were impacted by a loss in the fair market price of shares of Hess, which it finally acquired following a long battle with Exxon Mobil.

The sinking price of oil took a big bite out of profits at energy giants ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) in the second quarter.

ExxonMobil reported net income declined 23% year-over-year to $7.08 billion, and it was down 44% to $2.49 billion for Chevron. However, looking at adjusted earnings per share, both ExxonMobil ($1.64) and Chevron ($1.77) beat analysts' estimates.

ExxonMobil's revenue fell 12% to $81.51 billion, but beat forecasts. Chevron's revenue declined 12% to $44.82 billion, missing expectations. 

Crude prices fell below $60 a barrel in the second quarter, well below prior-year levels. In addition, Chevron's earnings were hurt by a $215 million loss on the fair market value of Hess shares after the company finally completed the $53 billion purchase of its rival following a prolonged fight with Exxon over the deal.

Chevron said its addition of Hess "creates one of the most advantaged and differentiated portfolios in the industry."

Shares of ExxonMobil slipped nearly 2% in recent trading but are about 2% higher year-to-date. Those of Chevron edged lower Friday but are up 4% in 2025.

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