Whitehouse, Warren Demand Answers About Big Oil’s Massive Windfall Profits as Americans Face Skyrocketing Gas Prices

27 oil and gas companies on track to rake in over $40 billion in first quarter; Gas prices up by as much as 52 percent since Iran War began

Washington, D.C. - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, are demanding information from major fossil fuel companies about their windfall profits and skyrocketing gas prices over the course of President Trump's war in Iran.

On February 28, 2026, the Trump Administration launched a military campaign in Iran without congressional authorization. Predictably, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and global oil supply drastically decreased. Gas prices spiked, allowing 27 oil and gas companies to rake in over $40 billion in profit in the first quarter of 2026. Adjusted earnings for oil giants Shell and BP doubled from the last quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of this year. At $100 per barrel of oil, total industry windfall profits could reach $234 billion by year's end.

"The oil industry delivered these 'strong results' during a time of 'unprecedented disruption in global energy markets' -these are the industry's own words-while American families paid more at the pump. The average price of gasoline is now $4.16 per gallon, up from $2.98 before the war began …. Higher fuel costs also ripple into higher grocery, utility, aviation, and other prices across the broader economy," the Senators wrote in a letter to seven oil companies.

"The opportunity to profit from high oil prices did not occur in a political vacuum," the Senators continued. In an April 2024 private dinner at Mar-a-Lago, then-candidate Trump solicited $1 billion from fossil fuel executives, promising to roll back environmental regulations, issue desired permits, and expand drilling opportunities. Earlier this year, Trump ordered the U.S. military to capture Venezuelan regime leader Nicolás Maduro, providing new opportunities for U.S. oil companies like Chevron.

As gas prices spiked following the Iran strikes, President Trump doubled down: "The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money."

"The pattern is consistent: while Americans suffer from high prices and the Iran War imposes tens of billions of dollars of new costs on the American public, the oil industry wins big. President Trump has made the calculus explicit in his own words. When it comes to families facing increasing prices in the context of the Iran War, he said: 'I don't think about Americans' financial situation,'" the Senators wrote.

Earlier this year, Whitehouse reintroduced the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act to protect consumers from giant oil companies exploiting world events to jack up prices. Revenue raised from the windfall profits of Big Oil companies would be clawed back and returned directly to consumers to provide relief from high gas prices.

Whitehouse and Warren are calling on oil companies to reveal their windfall profits and pricing decisions, involvement in the Trump campaign's 2024 quid pro quo arrangement, and communications with the Trump Administration regarding Iran. They are requesting information and documents from the following companies by June 25: Exxon Mobil Corporation; Chevron Corporation; Shell USA, Inc.; bp America, Inc.; ConocoPhillips; Occidental Petroleum Corporation; and Continental Resources, Inc.

A sample letter is available here.