5 Energy Stocks Positioned for a Prolonged Iran War
For the first time since the Iran war began, JPMorgan says it no longer has a clear baseline for how the oil market gets out of it. The bank had previously worked on the assumption that rising oil prices and the economic damage they caused would eventually put limits on how far the conflict could go. Six months into the war, JPMorgan says many of those thresholds have already been crossed without…
As the Iran conflict persists, five energy firms are positioned to capitalize on the prolonged crisis: Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Cheniere Energy, Shell, and Marathon Petroleum. Chevron has benefited from higher crude prices while incurring minimal production losses due to its limited Middle East footprint. The company reported a record adjusted $12 billion profit for Q2, with upstream earnings tripling from a year prior.
Meanwhile, Chevron's refining arm reported a profit of $4.9 billion, driven by record-high margins and record-high processing volumes. The company's Hess acquisition has further expanded its production capabilities, adding 900,000 bpd of production from Guyana's Stabroek Block. Chevron has returned $6.5 billion to shareholders and is expected to continue the share repurchase program through 2027.
Wall Street analysts have raised their price targets for Chevron, with Piper Sandler setting a $243 target and BMO Capital raising its target to $235. Marathon Petroleum is also a beneficiary of the refining margin surge, while Cheniere Energy benefits from the loss of competing Qatari LNG exports. Shell's exposure to the conflict is limited, but the company remains active in the global energy market.
Written by urgent.news from OilPrice's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
