Chevron does not report a comparable, standalone refining-margin figure, but it reported Friday that its downstream earnings more than quadrupled from a year earlier to $4.9 billion, with the company citing higher margins on refined-product sales.

That's amid tight supplies of refined fuels and pressure on refinery output globally, despite oil firms reporting this week that they are running their facilities near capacity to try to meet demand.

Why supply is tight

Along with soaring refined product margins, higher crude oil prices have also supported earnings at some integrated oil majors, which operate both upstream oil-and-gas businesses and downstream refining operations.

Their profits have climbed back toward levels last seen during the energy shock of 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The earnings spikes are in sharp contrast to consumers facing higher energy prices.

Some analysts say political efforts to tackle prices — release of emergency diesel stockpiles and a U.S.…