Shares of three US refiners more than doubled in 2026 — OilPrice
In the United States, shares of Phillips 66, Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum have more than doubled since the start of 2026 amid a shortage in the global market for petroleum products, OilPrice reports. According to the publication, ExxonMobil and Chevron shares gained around 40% each over this period, but lagged behind refining-sector companies in terms of performance.
OilPrice attributes the rise in US refiners' share prices to high refining margins and limited fuel supply. According to the publication's estimate, flows of petroleum products exceeding 7 million barrels per day in the Middle East and Russia are off the market. The war in Iran and the war waged by the aggressor state Russia against Ukraine, according to the report, have created a significant supply gap that capacity outside the Middle East and Russia cannot offset.
Low fuel inventories
Marathon Petroleum Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer Maryann Mannen said during the discussion of second-quarter results that the global petroleum products balance remains very tight. She also noted that gasoline and diesel fuel inventories are among the lowest levels observed.
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Phillips 66 Chief Executive Officer and Chair Mark Lashier called the situation a supply shock rather than a demand shock. According to him, significant refining capacity is not operating, while inventories remain low. He added that market normalization could take longer than after the shift in global crude oil and petroleum product flows in 2022.
Refining below last year's level
As OilPrice notes, Phillips 66, Marathon Petroleum and Valero reported second-quarter financial results that exceeded consensus expectations. The companies expect high margins to persist through the end of the year and possibly during the following year due to low commercial inventories and a shortage of refining capacity.
According to International Energy Agency data cited by OilPrice, global oil refining volumes reached a seasonal peak of 81.4 million barrels per day in August. This was 960,000 barrels per day higher than a month earlier but 4.2 million barrels per day lower than a year earlier. RBN Energy analysts noted that the market's main problem is not a traditional shortage of crude oil but insufficient production of middle distillates. In their estimate, US distillate inventories could have fallen in August to the lowest level for that month since 1951.
