이란 전쟁, 유가 급등에 셰브론·엑슨모빌 막대한 이익 실현
Chevron and Exxon Mobil reap massive profits as the Iran war drives up energy prices - Los Angeles Times
지정학적 에너지 가격 급등이 주요 에너지 기업들의 막대한 이익으로 즉각 반영되어 강력한 상승 여력을 제공합니다.
핵심 요약
이란 전쟁으로 인한 공급 제약과 유가 급등으로 엑슨모빌과 셰브론이 막대한 이익을 기록했습니다.
핵심요약
- 엑슨모빌은 2분기 이익이 145.3억 달러로 두 배 증가했습니다.
- 셰브론은 이익이 120.7억 달러로 네 배 가까이 증가했으며, 매출은 56% 증가했습니다.
- 국제 표준인 브렌트유 가격은 3월에서 5월 중 일부 기간 동안 70달러에서 126달러까지 상승했습니다.
- 유럽 6대 석유회사는 1분기 이익이 220억 달러로 전년 대비 40% 증가했습니다.
도입
본 기사는 지정학적 갈등이 글로벌 에너지 시장에 미치는 직접적인 영향과 이에 따른 주요 석유 기업들의 재무 성과를 조명합니다. 이는 단순히 에너지 시장의 변동성을 넘어, 국제 분쟁이 글로벌 공급망과 소비자 물가에 미치는 거시경제적 파급 효과를 이해하는 데 중요합니다. 지정학적 위험이 어떻게 실제적인 경제적 이익으로 전환되는지 분석하는 것은 투자자들이 현재의 에너지 가격 상승 추세와 기업의 장기적인 수익성에 대해 평가하는 데 필수적인 맥락을 제공합니다.
본문 1: 지정학적 리스크와 유가 급등의 메커니즘
이란과 미국의 분쟁은 호르무즈 해협을 통한 대부분의 해상 운송을 중단시켰고, 이는 세계 석유 및 천연가스 공급에 직접적인 제약을 가했습니다. 이러한 공급 제약은 시장에 즉각적인 충격을 주어 국제 표준인 브렌트유 가격을 3월, 4월, 5월 동안 70달러에서 100달러 이상으로 급등시켰습니다. 이처럼 지정학적 충돌이 물리적인 물류 경로를 차단함으로써 유가 변동성을 극대화하고, 결과적으로 에너지 생산 기업들에게 막대한 수익을 안겨준 것입니다. 이는 지정학적 위험이 단순한 정치적 이슈를 넘어 즉각적인 상품 가격과 기업의 재무 성과에 어떻게 반영되는지를 보여주는 명확한 사례입니다.
본문 2: 기업 실적과 글로벌 공급망의 취약성
이러한 유가 상승은 엑슨모빌과 셰브론 같은 주요 석유 기업의 재무 상태를 크게 개선시켰습니다. 엑슨모빌은 2분기에 145.3억 달러의 이익을 기록했으며, 셰브론은 120.7억 달러의 이익을 기록하며 매출이 56% 증가했습니다. 이는 공급 제약 상황에서 에너지 가격 상승이 기업의 수익성을 직접적으로 끌어올렸음을 의미합니다. 또한, 이 사건은 전 세계적인 공급망의 취약성을 드러냅니다. 일부 국가에서는 연료 배급의 어려움과 물가 상승이 발생했으며, 호주에서는 연료 배급에 따른 할당제가 시행되는 등 사회적 혼란이 발생했습니다. 이는 에너지 자원의 안정적인 흐름이 국제 관계에 얼마나 민감하게 연결되어 있는지를 보여줍니다.
본문 3: 소비자 비용과 장기적 전망
유가 상승은 최종 소비자들에게 직접적인 비용 부담으로 이어졌습니다. 휘발유, 디젤, 항공유 가격이 급등하면서 운송 비용이 증가했고, 이는 운전자와 항공 여행객에게 직접적인 영향을 미쳤습니다. 또한, 일부 국가에서는 식량 및 비료 가격에 대한 잠재적 영향으로 인해 연료 배급이 제한되는 상황도 발생했습니다. 이러한 소비자 비용 증가는 인플레이션 압력을 가중시키며, 에너지 안보와 경제 성장의 균형을 맞추는 것이 향후 주요 과제가 될 것입니다. 에너지 기업들은 단기적인 수익을 확보했으나, 장기적으로는 에너지 전환이라는 구조적 변화에 어떻게 대응할지가 중요한 관건으로 남습니다. 이들 기업의 미래 수익성은 지정학적 안정성과 글로벌 에너지 전환 정책에 따라 달라질 전망입니다.
결론
이번 사태는 지정학적 갈등이 글로벌 에너지 시장의 가격과 기업 수익에 즉각적이고 강력한 영향을 미친다는 점을 명확히 보여줍니다. 에너지 생산 기업들은 단기적으로 높은 수익을 확보했으나, 향후에는 공급망 안정화와 에너지 전환이라는 장기적인 과제에 직면하게 될 것입니다. 투자자들은 지정학적 위험이 에너지 가격에 미치는 민감도를 지속적으로 모니터링하고, 각 기업의 공급망 관리 능력과 에너지 전환 전략을 중심으로 분석할 필요가 있습니다. 향후 에너지 시장의 안정성과 지정학적 환경 변화에 대한 예측이 향후 시장 흐름을 결정하는 핵심 요소가 될 것입니다.
Original Article
Chevron and Exxon Mobil reap massive profits as the Iran war drives up energy prices - Los Angeles Times
American oil and gas giants raked in massive spring profits while fighting between Iran and the U.S. impeded petroleum shipments and consumers around the world paid more for fuel and confronted shortages. The conflict, now in its sixth month, halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that previously served as a delivery route for a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas. With global supplies constrained, prices for Brent crude, the international standard, soared from about $70 to above $100 a barrel for much of March, April and May, and at one point reached $126. The money that oil companies accrued between the beginning of April and the end of June could receive extra scrutiny this year. Gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices climbed sharply during that period, increasing costs for drivers and airline passengers. Supplies ran low in some countries, leading to sporadic fuel rationing in Australia and government office closures in Nepal and Sri Lanka. Exxon Mobil on Friday reported that its second quarter profits doubled to $14.53 billion, boosted by record diesel production. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in $116.02 billion in revenue, up 42%. Chevron, based in Houston, nearly quadrupled its profits to $12.07 billion and revenue jumped 56% to $70.06 billion. Six of Europe’s largest oil companies posted combined first-quarter profits of $22 billion, more than 40% higher than last year. “There are constituencies around the world who are having a very good crisis, and the oil producers are one of them,” said Patrick Galey, fossil fuels lead at Global Witness, a nonprofit organization that investigates environmental issues. “When you compare that to the hundreds of millions of people who are struggling with rolling blackouts, with electricity curbs, rationing, waiting in line for food queues, or the disruption to fertilizers and the potential impact that that has on food prices, we don’t think that it’s a justifiable price for the rest of the world to be paying.” Energy companies such as Exxon and Chevron do not set the price of American oil, which ricocheted from $68 to $115 a barrel during the quarter. It’s driven by supply and demand, and what traders, refiners and other buyers are willing to pay. Nevertheless, Democrats in Congress introduced bills in March to tax major oil producers for profits they show from 2026 onward and have the tax proceeds redistributed to consumers. “It’s fair to put a windfall profits tax on inordinate windfall profits rather than cut off children’s food programs,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who introduced the Senate version of the legislation. Whitehouse's measure and a companion bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California would amend the U.S. tax code to impose a per-barrel tax on companies that produced or imported at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025. “We cracked $4 again per gallon last weekend in gas stations that I drove by, and that’s a big expense, particularly for families that get their income from driving around from job to job in the work van or the work truck,” Whitehouse said. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S., which was below $3 before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, reached $4.11 Friday, about $1 more than a year ago at this time. The UK and other European countries implemented temporary windfall profits taxes on fossil fuel companies in 2022. The UK extended that to 2030, according to Tax Foundation Europe. “Penalizing the businesses who stood by those countries and provided that product going forward is very short-sighted,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a call with investors Friday. “We canceled investments that we had planned for Europe based on the last time they passed a windfall profits tax.” Outfits such as Exxon and Chevron, which also own refineries, are in the best position to profit from the current market conditions, said Tom Seng, assistant professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University. Refineries turn oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil. Higher prices for those products meant Chevron’s quarterly refinery profit was six times as big in 2026, despite processing less crude and selling less products. “The return on refining, on a percentage basis, has skyrocketed,” Seng said. “Oil right now is priced what it is priced because of the Iran war. But in the meantime, the refineries are making money hand over fist.” The global refining market is under-supplied, and with countries such as Russia and China no longer exporting, companies like Exxon and Chevron have to pick it up, said Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital. “The world is going to be short jet fuel, diesel and gasoline, so we’ll probably continue to see higher profits there.” Globally, not all refineries have been able to get the supply of crude oil they need to meet demand since the conflict began, said Timothy Fitzgerald, a University of Tennessee professor of business economics who studies the petroleum industry. As a result, refineries that have ample oil to work with, including those in the U.S., are turning high profits, particularly when they make jet fuel and diesel, which is priced about 41% higher in the U.S. than before the Strait of Hormuz was blocked. "If you’re a company that owns a bunch of refinery capacity, things look pretty good," Fitzgerald said. American refineries are running at near-full capacity and poised to benefit because some refineries in the Middle East and Russia were damaged. And Asia can't get the amount of Middle East oil needed for refining. “Ultimately, users of the energy services pay,” Fitzgerald said. “Consumers, people like you and me buying retail motor gasoline or diesel fuel or airplane tickets. But it also means that almost everything else we buy has an embedded energy content to it ... and this is where you start to worry about it driving increases in costs.” In the present geopolitical environment, some companies are winners while others are losers, Fitzgerald said. “If you’re a company like a U.S. (oil) producer, even a U.S.-based international company like an Exxon or Chevron who’s got lots of production outside the Gulf, things are good. You’re selling your product at a higher price,” he said. But companies in the Middle East that are not able to benefit from higher prices because they are struggling to get their liquefied natural gas out of the Persian Gulf or have a lot of damaged oil fields or processing facilities have a very different take on recent events, Fitzgerald added. “Your ability to sell anything and the volume that you may be getting out is so curtailed that your revenues are way down and you’re incurring higher transportation costs and security costs,” he said. Exxon and Chevron weren’t as profitable in the first quarter due to the way oil is traded; the first real opportunity they had to take advantage of higher oil prices was in April. Companies that had a lot of oil stored in floating tankers and available for spot-market trading, including some European ones, were able to benefit from March’s higher oil prices, Seng said. Bussewitz writes for the Associated Press.