Benoît Morenne

Hey, listeners, it's Tuesday, May 5th.

I'm Benoit Morin for The Wall Street Journal.

And this is What's News in Earnings, our look at some of the biggest themes standing out this earnings season.

And well, it's been a roller coaster of a quarter for oil companies.

They entered it concerned about an oversupply of oil in global markets.

But the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz mean the world is now short crude and other petroleum products.

oil prices have jumped, and Exxon and Chevron both beat Wall Street's expectations.

But the big picture is murky.

The Trump administration and Iran are fighting for control of this trade, and American producers don't know how and when this ends.

And because they don't know how sustainable the rising prices will be, they're not ready to pump much more oil than they are, at least for now.

We're joined now by Wall Street Journal energy reporter Colin Eaton, who covers big oil.

So, Colin, oil prices surged this quarter on the back of the Iran war.

Did that translate into a windfall for Exxon, Chevron and the other majors?

So what did the company say about how they plan to use all this cash?

Could they drill more?

So those big old CEOs, how do they see the next few months playing out for global energy markets and perhaps more importantly for U.S.

consumers?

And that was What's News in Earnings.

Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansi with supervising producer Tali Arbel.

Additional sound courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence.