Sen.
Martin Heinrich plans to introduce a bill that would strip U.S. oil and gas companies of tax advantages tied to their overseas operations, a move coming amid soaring industry profits driven by the ongoing U.S.-Iran war, according to CNBC
Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat who serves as the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the legislation would eliminate preferential tax treatment for overseas oil and gas extraction income, treating those profits the same as other foreign business income. The bill would additionally shut down loopholes enabling companies to accumulate extra foreign tax credits through shale oil and tar sands activity, and would revise foreign tax credit rules to stop oil and gas producers from improperly categorizing government payments as taxes instead of royalties — a practice used to shrink their U.S. tax bills, according to Heinrich’s office. “Oil majors shouldn’t get a tax break for going overseas to produce energy, but that’s essentially what our current tax policy does,” Heinrich said. “At a time when oil majors are making billions in profits per quarter, they can afford to pay their fair share.” The bill arrives days after President Donald Trump demanded that ExxonMobil and Chevron cut retail gasoline prices after the two companies reported windfall profits tied to the conflict. Trump publicly criticized the firms, saying they were “making too much money” and warning they would have to “give some of that back to the public.” Trump has simultaneously encouraged American oil and gas firms to enter Venezuela following his administration’s role in ousting longtime leader Nicolás Maduro.
Chevron’s second-quarter earnings reached $12 billion, roughly quadrupling year-over-year from just $2.5 billion in the same quarter of 2025. ExxonMobil’s second-quarter profit came in at $14.5 billion, compared with roughly $7.1 billion in the year-ago period — an increase of more than 100%. The national average for a…